Technically, Still Human
by SMorris105
Summary: After a bout of late night television, Ruby decides she wants a "robotic assistant". However, when the android turns on for the first time and claims to be a human from another world, things get a little complicated.
1. Chapter 1

Ruby Rose. If you were to ask some of the many students, teachers, and staff members at the prestigious Beacon Academy about that name you could probably get a variety of responses.

Most of the staff would tell you that at 15 years old, she was one of the youngest people to ever enroll in their fine school. Many professors that work with her would tell you that the young girl was full of potential and that she would go far as a Huntress. Indeed, she was accepted into the school two years early on account of her being a talented combatant and later proving that she had the tactical acumen of a team leader during her initiation.

The students that have trained with her would probably know her as the peppy, if a bit socially awkward, leader of the cleverly named Team RWBY. Many of the students who went up against her in sparring matches however, would tell you that in a fight she is fast. Unbelievably fast. The fact that her weapon of choice is a combination scythe and sniper rife would probably be brought up in conversation. Word had it that she built that monstrosity with her own two hands back at Signal Academy.

The Crescent Rose. That was the name Ruby gave to her weapon. It was a beautiful example of a category of weapons called High Caliber Sniper Scythes, or HCSS for short. She never went anywhere without it; the weapon could almost always be found folded up on her back under the red cloak she always wore. She maintained her weapon almost religiously; cleaning, polishing, sharpening, lubricating, and generally tweaking it every chance she got.

Some students claimed they had seen her sitting in the locker room cradling the scythe like a baby and whispering to it.

When asked about this Ruby simply said that they didn't understand proper weapon maintenance.

So, what kind of picture do all these details paint? They paint the image of a quirky, talented, mechanically inclined girl that's practically oozing with potential. Knowing this, it wouldn't be much of a surprise to anyone if she did something else that was strange.

It all started one late night with Ruby laying in her bunk and watching television on her Scroll. The bright screen of the electronic device illuminated her face and the wall behind her. Her teammates, who she shared the room with, were all asleep though so no one was bothered. From the perspective of an observer, headphones blared incomprehensibly as the girl flipped through various programs and channels.

"...but wait! There's more!"

"The chances of survivors are slim to none, unfor-..."

"...UFOs. Alien invaders? Or simple delusions? Find out ne-..."

"...the Brown Bear in its natural habitat..."

"...and that's why its called a clock radio!"

Ruby sighed. Hundreds of channels and nothing to watch. She was about to close her Scroll and sleep when the next show caught her attention.

"...and welcome to Late Night D.I.Y. where the most interesting home projects are displayed and explained. Tonight we'll be discussing how a local man converted a trashed security android into a personal robotic assistant."

Ruby settled in to watch; for some reason the show sounded very interesting to her.

She was completely absorbed into the nearly hour long program. She watched as the interviewee explained how he found a derelict android, an AK-130 security bot apparently, in a scrap yard. She listened as he explained all the things he had to repair and replace "... tighten a joint here, replace a fried interface there...". When she saw how the newly refurbished machine performed however, Ruby knew she had to have one.

She imagined what it would be like to have a servant. "I'm sure Weiss would know something about that." Ruby thought snidely in reference to her well off teammate. She didn't have to stretch her imagination far to see what kind of benefits of having an assistant would be. For example, she could send a robot into the dining hall to retrieve cookies. She could get cookies or strawberries without ever having to leave her dorm!

Even with that single application it was a worthy cause in her mind. However, as a Huntress in training she was expected to slay monsters. Naturally that meant if she had a personal robot it would need to be able to do the same. Perhaps keep it simple and tack a bunch of guns onto it? Or give it a melee weapon like a sword or a spear or maybe even a scythe like hers.

Ruby figured she'd cross that bridge when she got there. She put away her Scroll and pulled her sleep mask over her eyes. That night she dreamt of mechanical cookies and chocolate chipped swords.

* * *

The following day during a free period, Ruby ventured to one of the various practice rooms located on academy grounds. This particular room had robotic practice units which students used to simulate being attacked by multiple enemies at once. The girl wasn't interested in that particular feature today though. She passed the door that led into that specific room and instead headed to a nearby office across the hall.

Ruby knocked lightly on the door marked 'Quartermaster and Maintenance' and entered the room. Inside she found a small, narrow office with a wooden desk on the other end of the room. Behind the desk sat an older gentleman with a balding head of grey hair. He was busily typing away at a computer stationed in front of him.

"Take a seat." The man said without looking up from his work.

Ruby awkwardly shuffled into a chair directly opposite of the man.

The apparent Quartermaster finally looked at her with dark brown eyes and said "So, what do ya need young lady?"

She began nervously touching her index fingers together "Well... I was wondering if I could have something..."

The man raised an eyebrow at that, rolled his chair back and placed his hands behind his head. "If you need supplies from the school's warehouse you're going to need to fill out a requisition form. If you need something we don't have and you can't get yourself, talk to 'Acquisition'. If you just need something remotely related to weapons talk to someone over there under 'Ordnance'. Honestly though it would probably be faster to just go into the city and shop around..."

"Umm no." Ruby began "I was wondering if I could somehow get a hold of one of your robots. It doesn't have to be working, just preferably with its arms and legs still attached."

The Quartermaster looked thoughtful and responded "Well, normally I'd tell you tough luck but... there is one particular unit that would be far more convenient for me if I got rid of it than having it repaired."

"Why?" The girl questioned.

"I don't just fill out paperwork all day you know. I got to maintain these buckets of bolts too. And this particular unit is going to be an absolute pain in the as- I mean rear, to fix. Some jerkoff severely damaged the core systems and, due to school policies I hardly agree with, I can't just swap out the parts: I got to fix 'em by hand." The man explained.

"However, if its deemed irreparable or better yet missing I'd be able to order a new one instead."

"So... can I have it?"

"...If you're gonna fix it, yes, you can have it."

Ruby was about to jump out of her chair and give the man a handshake or even a hug when he raised a finger. "But."

"You have to tell me what you need it for."

She gave the Quartermaster her best straight face and stated "I'm going to build a robo-butler."

The Quartermaster blinked "Alright then. Just... don't burn down the school or anything." He clicked around on his computer for a few moments before finally turning back to Ruby.

"Okay, you know where we keep our robots?"

"Yep."

"Okay, great. Just go into the storage room and find locker 23. It'll be already unlocked. Uh, there should be a dolly somewhere in the room to help you move it. You are taking it to your dorm right?

"Umm, yeah I guess."

"Great. Good luck then, on your project. Have fun."

Ruby smiled warmly at the older man as she turned and left his office "Will do!"

* * *

It was only after she had dragged the machine back to her dorm and opened it up did she find out the extent of the damage. True to the Quartermaster's word, the damage on the motherboard could be best described as deep fried. Then flash frozen. Then filled with bullet holes.

Fortunately, the damage was only in a single section; the limbs and other important pieces appeared to be functional. The only other damage was superficial. The paint being scratched up from years of abuse. 'Oh well, I was gonna repaint it anyway.' Ruby thought.

Indeed, it wouldn't do if her robot didn't match her usual black and red clothing scheme. The lightish grey would have to go, as well as the obnoxious Beacon Academy crossed axe logos emblazoned upon it.

Sighing, the girl closed the back panel; her hands running over the small engraved text that stated the androids model number. 'AK-130T'. A special variant, apparently. Compared to the standard model used throughout the world, the AK-130T had no internal weapons, making its arms shorter and closer to normal human proportions while also being slightly denser since what could have been weapon weight was now solid alloyed metals. Its hands were also far more dexterous so it could use weapons or tools an overseer assigned it. According to the manual, at least.

Ruby dragged the robot to the corner of the room on the right side of her bunk. As she set the machine against the wall the girl realized she had forgotten to tell any of her teammates her idea. She knew her sister, Yang, would support her and that Blake would probably be indifferent to it. But Weiss... Ruby didn't know how her icy partner would react. Hopefully positively. She had made that promise to be the 'best teammate ever' just a few weeks ago, so surely she would at least go along with it.

She glanced up at a nearby clock, noting she had ten minutes till her next class started. Ruby gave the broken android, her android, one last look before leaving the room and locking the door behind her.

* * *

Darkness. Darkness all around. A still, quiet void. Suffocating in its omnipresence.

He couldn't feel his hands. Or legs. Or head. Or anything for that matter. All he could 'see' was pitch black nothing. Though, he supposed you couldn't really see nothing per se, but the fact still stood. He saw nothing.

He wasn't quite sure how long he had been in this state or how this situation came to be. All he knew was a vague awareness of himself. He was still thinking though, thinking that he could think. He counted that as a plus.

Thinking. Thoughts. Memories. Remember... remember! How had he ended up like this anyway?

'You have to remember.' A voice spoke in his mind. It wasn't really a voice. It was like... an idea that wasn't from himself. Close your eyes and imagine a sentence in your head. Kinda like that.

'Very perceptive.'

"Thanks creepy voice."

'I thought I wasn't a voice.'

"Spontaneously-forming-idea-thing is a bit cumbersome. Voice is much easier."

'A fair point.'

Right. He needed to remember something. He tried to find his most recent memory.

[Darkness. Darkness all around. A still, quie-]

"Too recent!" He sighed. He idly wondered how he sighed if he had no lungs or body that he was aware of but decided he would answer that another time.

"A little further now..."

[He walked down the street illuminated by the soft yellow light of a street lamp. A cool breeze ruffled his hair as he shifted his grip on the brown paper bag he held in front of him. A quick glance inside the bag confirmed that the contents hadn't become too jostled.]

"Better."

'Try to remember.'

"What am I looking for?"

'How you arrived here.'

He focused once again, trying to follow the previous memory.

[Out of the corner of his eye he noticed the brick wall to his left light up. Logically, he looked right expecting to see a car approaching the cross at the T-intersection he was passing. Two bright white head lights were visible in the dark; their shining orbs like the eyes of some beast.]

Beast was a very apt description.

[The screeching of rubber on asphalt, the air in his lungs leaving violently, a sickening series of snaps and cracks, and pain. So much PAIN. Then finally, merciful darkness.]

"Oh..."

'Indeed.'

"I'm... dead?"

'Yes.'

* * *

Ruby stared intently at a glass shelf filled with a selection of electronic parts.

"Hmm."

"...Hello, miss? Do you need help?"

"Hmmmm."

"Are you looking for anything in particular?"

"Hmmmmmm."

"Alright then if you need anything I'll be right ove-."

"Actually! I am looking for something."

The sales clerk smiled at the teenager; like a predator baring its teeth at a potential catch. Finally a chance for a commission!

"Oh? And what would that be?"

The girl smiled just as brightly right back at him. "A core processor for a AK-130T is all."

The would-be salesman noticeably paused before responding. "Well miss, it seems you've come to the right store. You see, there's an item that fits your needs and its... kinda on sale right now." He gestured with his hand for Ruby to follow him.

The clerk led her to the front counter, dramatically spinning on his heel and letting his dark blue work vest sway in the motion. He reached under the counter and pulled out a small, plain, brown cardboard box.

"Bum da da daaaa! And here it is!"

The worker opened the box enthusiastically and presented it to his young customer.

"Oooooooo! What is it?"

Inside the box, Ruby found a processor chip. The special thing about it was the fact a red gem or crystal of some sort had been embedded into it.

"That, is a slightly modified robotics processor that's standard in most of the the AK line. It... was the project of the late owner of the store." The employee answered solemnly.

"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that." Ruby tenderly replied.

"It's alright. It happened a few months ago. She had no living family to speak of, so responsibility of the store fell to the employees. Why this is relevant you may be wondering is because her Will specifically stated for one of us to give this to a customer the first chance we got." The salesman took a breath "So, what would it take for you to go home with this item?"

"Well, are you sure it'll work in a AK-130T?" The red cloaked girl inquired.

"Positive. In fact it should plug into most anything electronic made in Atlas."

"Really? That's convenient."

"Yeah. You gotta love Atlesian efficiency, ha ha."

Ruby shared the laugh, thinking her partner would definitely know something about that.

"So, how much is it exactly?"

The salesman scratched his head. "Considering the circumstances I'd say 140 Lien would be fair."

"I'll take it!" The girl immediately agreed. She had been prepared to pay twice that amount so she didn't see any downside.

Ruby pulled out a wallet and retrieved the required amount of money. A moment later she left the store, box (in bag) in hand. It was the last piece she needed, having spent the last several days tracking down spare parts around the school and city. She felt good about the deal she got. In fact, as soon as she laid her hands upon the piece she knew she had to have it. It was like... when she touched it, it touched her back.

If she wanted to be poetic, Ruby would have said the little part touched her Soul.

Perhaps, if she were paying attention, she would have found that to be more literal than it should have been.

* * *

"If I'm dead, then this is the afterlife?" He asked.

'No.' The Other answered.

"Then what's going on? Why am I here?"

'To hear an offer.'

"Well, I got nothing else to do. I'm listening.

'From this point on, you're fate diverges into two distinct paths. You may rest and await the end of everything, or you may live again.'

"What kind of an offer is that? Anyone would choose life!"

'Because the only reason you get to make this choice is because of special circumstances.'

"What kind of special circumstances?"

'The impossible has happened. The walls between have been breached.'

"What's that supposed to mean?"

'It means Terra has connected to one of the other realms.'

"Wait other realms? Like other worlds?"

'Similar, yes.'

"So there's a way between two worlds now. What does this have to do with me?"

'Victim of happenstance.'

"What?"

'The conditions of your demise and events in both your world and the other have made you the only being capable of transference by this method at this time. Should you choose to accept this offer, you will live again in this other world. If you decline, you may rest peacefully and forget any of this happened.'

He weighed his options. On one hand he could sleep; a nice, long, dreamless sleep could do him some good. On the other hand: live again. In another world even! How could he pass that up? How could he even think about missing that chance? When he was a kid, he always dreamed about going to space. To see other planets and meet strange creatures. Maybe... maybe this could be something like that.

"I can't really say no to a chance to live again, can I?"

'I didn't think you would.'

"Then consider your offer accepted. I want to live. What do I do now?"

'Good. Very good. Now, relax and... prepare for reanimation.' With that, he felt a presence he didn't know was there leave him and the dark nothingness around him lifted. Revealed from behind the veil he didn't know was there before was another wall. This one was red with many facets. It reminded him of a gemstone... like a ruby.

It was a beautiful surface. All clean and polished. Entrancing really. Red wasn't really his color though. He much preferred its opposite: green. The wall seemed to have read his mind because with just that thought it turned a vivid, emerald green.

Thinking that he could change the color at will, he brought thoughts of blue to his mind. It took several moments to realize it wasn't working. Maybe it was because he favored green over anything else? He mentally shrugged it off and focused on something more important.

Now what? How long until... he... got a... new... body?

The strangest sensation overcame him, like electricity coursing through him as his vision alternated between the emerald wall and static.

More senses came to him. He could feel the gentle tug of gravity and the solid ground under his feet. He had feet! And arms, legs, torso and head too! He experimentally flexed his hands and tested the motion of his arms. When he was satisfied with that he marched in place a few times. He didn't dare actually move though; he hadn't gained any vision or hearing yet.

The thought occurred to him that if anyone saw his little routine, they would have found it quite strange. But what were the chances anyone was watching?

* * *

"What's it doing?"

"I have no idea."

"I thought you said you were good with this kind of thing?"

"I said I was a dork with weapons, Weiss, software is not my thing."

"Ruby, I hope none of the parts you bought were faulty."

"I hope so too..."

Ruby and Weiss stood in their dormitory and watched as Ruby's robot flexed, nodded, and marched in the center of the room. Thankfully it hadn't actually moved from its spot. The optics hadn't powered on yet, as evidenced by the missing glow from its 'face'.

It was around seven in the evening when they got back from their trip into the city. Blake and Yang had changed back into their school uniforms and left because they had an evening class that day. They said they'd be in the library for a study session afterwards. Weiss had decided to stay and study in the dorm while Ruby tinkered on her project. Weiss was content on studying in relative silence with her partner and team leader in the room. In her mind, just occupying the same room as her was bonding enough. She was thoroughly engrossed in her textbook however, so naturally Weiss nearly jumped out of her chair when Ruby seemingly materialized at her side.

"Hey Weiss!" The younger leader greeted.

"Gah!" The white haired girl had sputtered but quickly recovered "What do you want?"

"I'm about to start it up for the first time!" Ruby announced "You wanna watch?"

The more studious of the pair was about to bite off a scathing remark of having something better to do, but remembered her promise. 'Best teammate ever, Weiss.' Her textbook could wait.

"Okay, sure."

Ruby smiled brightly and zoomed off to her android's side and flipped open a back panel. "Time to wake up!" She pressed down a finger on its back; presumably the power button. A trio of horizontal bars on its chest lit up with a lively crimson light. Which shortly flickered out and turned green.

"Well, that's weird."

That was a few minutes ago. Back in the present the android was still exercising, as it were.

"Should... we do something? Weiss tentatively asked.

"Nah, just give it a few more minutes. It might be some kind of weird start up sequence." Ruby said

* * *

INITIALIZING

"Well that is definitely strange." He thought to himself. He didn't think the first thing he'd see in his presumably new body was a elongated, hexagonal text box with that word. As the word vanished a grid pattern traced itself out on his vision, first the vertical lines then the horizontal. They flared brightly then vanished shortly thereafter.

He consciously stilled his body and straightened his back. Doing his best to 'look' what he assumed was straight ahead. He prepared himself just in time for one moment his vision was featureless blackness, the next, like switching channels on a television, his sight finally returned to him. And the sight before him wasn't exactly one he was expecting.

The first and most obvious things before him were two other people. Two young ladies specifically, maybe teenagers. The one on the left was wearing all black and red. A black, long sleeved blouse and skirt with red trimmings and some kind of red stringed corset thing on her abdomen. Black boots with red laces, black leggings. Glancing up he noted her relatively short hair: with bangs parted to the right, black... with a red tint. Speaking of red, she also wore a red cape or cloak on her back.

She had a hand rested on her chin, but as he observed her it fell to her side as she turned and said something to the other person in the room. He saw her lips move but didn't hear anything. A small text box in the corner of his vision helpfully stated 'INITIALIZING AUDIO'.

The other person in the room, the girl on the right, was dressed in white and a light shade of blue. She wore a white, thigh-length dress and bolero jacket. He gave her the same once over as the other girl and noted the calf-length wedge boots and how the collar on her jacket was scarlet on the inside. But the most striking feature on this girl was her long white hair tied up in an off center ponytail. How did someone that young looking have white hair?

He wondered whether it was natural, dyed, or if the girl was really just that stressed out.

While he was pondering this, Red approached him. She walked around him as if inspecting him; given his circumstances she probably was. When he turned his head to track her however, he got a look of his new body.

His body appeared to be made of metal. He brought a hand up in front of his face and confirmed his suspicions. His hand, his arm, presumably his whole body was unmistakably mechanical. As he flexed his fingers, he admired how beautifully articulated and finely machined they were. They had the same range of motion a fleshy body would've had.

While he was occupied admiring his hand, Red had apparently stepped back in front of him; silver eyes looking directly up at his own. Her lips moved, and judging from his limited experience reading lips, he deduced she had probably said "Hello".

Not wanting to be rude he tried to return her greeting but nothing happened. Nothing came out of his mouth. Although, he realized he probably didn't have a mouth but made sure anyway. Sure enough, his hands found nothing but smooth surface on his face. A new text box appeared in the corner of his vision: 'INITIALIZING SPEECH'

Red began speaking again and he still couldn't hear her. He was about to gesture with his arms to communicate that fact, when his hearing finally returned.

"-onding? Hello? Are you working? Hmm maybe there's something wrong with the voice commands..."

He brought one hand up to where his ear would've been with the palm facing forward and then brought it down, closed it into a fist and stuck a thumb up. The intended message was 'I can hear'. Red seemed to comprehend this for the next thing she said was "Can you understand me?"

He nodded his head in affirmative.

"Yes! Alright what about your speech function? Can you talk?"

He tapped his neck and held up one finger. 'In a moment.' Red didn't seem to quite understand with the way she raised an eyebrow and turned to look at White.

White however understood and told Red "I think it's still starting up." Red turned back to look at him. "So you can talk, but not right now?"

He nodded in affirmation and held one finger up again.

"Right. Just give you a moment." Red surmised and walked off towards his right and sat on the bottom bunk of a bunk bed he just noticed.

'That doesn't look safe.' He thought. Indeed the 'bunk bed' looked like a hasty modification of two normal twin sized beds with the top bunk being suspended from the ceiling on ropes. It wasn't even level! Looking to his left he found another shoddy construction: another set of single beds piled on top of each other, this one having stacks of books wedged between the posts to grant additional height.

'That has to be some kind of safety code violation or something.'

He was trying to think of a possible solution to fix the bunk beds (besides acquiring new frames outright) when White spoke up. "You know, I've never heard of an Android communicating through gestures before."

Android? They thought he was a robot? Well, he supposed he probably was now. It would explain the text boxes he keeps seeing and the whole 'being made of metal' thing.

This was not what he was expecting when that... Other offered him a second chance.

"Neither have I. It looks so smooth and natural too." Red responded.

He added to the exchange by simply shrugging.

What followed was several long minutes of him just standing still and observing the room while the two young women watched him. He thought about just leaving the room but he had some questions and these two seemed friendly enough. If only he could talk sooner...

As soon as that thought was half formed the text box in the corner of his vision flashed green and said 'READY' before disappearing. He tried to feel if there was anything different now and felt a new presence roughly where his lips would have been. He tried mentally reaching out for it, similar to the way you'd isolate a single muscle or body part, and instantly felt it come 'alive' under his attention. He let it go, instinctively knowing that if he thought of something while it was active it would be vocalized.

'Wait how did I know that? Why was it instinctive? Was it some kind of perk of being a robot?'

'Well, only one way to find out.' He thought wondering if his instincts were correct. He prepared his first words in this supposedly new world.

* * *

"If I'm right, then this is a speaker."

Ruby's head shot up at the synthesized voice and found her robot looking right at her from the center of the room.

"I guess I was right. Hello." It said.

"You're fully functional now?" She asked it, stood and walked in front of it.

"As far as I can tell, yeah." It responded.

"Alright! Wait, now what do I do? Uhhh..." Ruby dashed off towards the desk next to the one Weiss was sitting at and picked up a small booklet entitled 'AK-130T Owner's Manual'. "Umm let's see here... Aha! Test voice commands!" She cleared her throat and struck a pose. "AK-130T! Step forward!" She yelled while pointing at the machine for added emphasis.

The robot merely looked at her blankly before pointing at itself and saying "Who, me?"

Ruby visibly deflated at that and flipped a few pages in the booklet "Hmm, if unit does not respond make sure unit recognizes you as operator..."

"Uh, actually, Miss. If I could I ask a few questions." The android vocalized.

Ruby looked up from her booklet, first at the robot then Weiss. The white haired girl was giving her a questioning stare. She gave her teammate a shrug and a 'I don't know' face before turning back to the android and answering "Umm, okay?"

"Great. First question: I'm a robot, right?" The machine asked.

"Uh, yeah." Ruby oh so eloquently replied.

"Okay. Just making sure. Next question: What's our deal here? Did you buy me or what?"

"Well kinda. You were broken, so I put you back together from parts I found."

"So, you own me?"

"...Yes?"

"Oh." The robot stepped back and fell on its rear; its back propped against the bookshelf under the window. It adopted a thinker's pose with its right hand under its chin and its left hand on its right elbow.

Ruby could already see there was something seriously wrong here. The manual didn't say anything about the unit asking questions. It was supposed to just be a mindless drone that blindly followed simple orders! It was almost as if...

It had a soul.

That thought scared her. If her robot had somehow become a living, intelligent being, she couldn't keep it around and have it do stuff for her. That would be like... slavery! Which is wrong!

Working with that assumption, the red cloaked girl sat down next to the thinking machine. "Hey."

"You're not like any other robot, are you?"

The android in question glanced at her before staring at the floor "What gave you that idea?"

"Well, you ask questions. A machine waits for someone to tell it what to do... and it doesn't care what it is or who owns it."

The android was silent so Ruby took that as a sign to keep talking.

"But you don't seem to be like that. You're like, alive. With a soul. In fact..." She reached out and grasped its right hand "I can feel it."

And she could. That feeling, the powerful, almost indescribable feeling that could only be an Aura.

"You can feel my soul? Literally or figuratively?" It questioned.

"Literally." She answered earnestly.

They shared a quiet moment which was broken shortly by Weiss calling out from the other side of the room. "Wait, it has a soul? How can a machine have a soul? Atlesian Knights don't exactly leave the factory with one you know!"

The android turned its head and looked at Ruby "Atlesian Knight?" it asked her to which she replied by knocking on it's shoulder "What you're supposed to be."

"Oh." It suddenly stood up and started pacing back and forth. "I don't think I'm the most qualified person to ask, but I'll tell you everything I know." It began.

"Okay so one night I pay a visit to the grocery store 'cause I'm out of milk and I already poured a bowl full of cereal. Anyway, I go over there buy what I need and start walking back home. Everything was going fine and dandy until I pass this T-intersection. I see some headlights, car doesn't stop apparently and now I'm dead. Float in darkness for a few minutes or days not sure which, get an extraordinarily vague offer from a creepy voice thing and next thing I know I'm a robot." The android finished.

Both girls looked at each other before looking at the robot. "What?"

"I died and came back as a robot."

Weiss recovered from the revelation first "How... is that even possible?"

"Beats me. I'm just glad to be alive again. Not what I was expecting though."

"Wait, so you were a person before? Where are you from? Maybe we can track down your body and reverse this somehow." Ruby suggested.

"There are two things wrong with that. One, I wouldn't even know how to go about moving souls between bodies and two, remember that creepy voice thing I mentioned?"

"Yeah?"

"Well it implied, no, outright stated I'd wake up in another world or something. But I haven't seen anything too different yet. Except her hair." The android pointed towards Weiss.

"Hey! What's wrong with my hair?" Weiss exclaimed defensively.

"It's white."

"So!?"

"Why would you dye your hair white?"

"Dye!? I'll have you know my hair is completely natural!"

"Strange."

Weiss was about to go off on a tirade before Ruby interrupted her. "Wait, did you just say your from another world?"

"From what I understand, yes."

"Does that mean you're an alien?" The girl asked excitedly.

"...I was Human, if that's what you're getting at." It responded flatly.

"Yeah but if your really from another world you're technically an alien!" She retorted.

The android held up a finger and, if it had a mouth, Ruby was sure it would have been open in a ready reply but its blank green face offered no expression. "You... are correct. Technically correct, which is the best kind." Ruby smiled at her small victory.

"How can you even be sure you're on another world anyway?" Weiss jumped back into the conversation.

"Hmm..." the robot audibly hummed. "Well tell me, do the words America, Europe, Africa, or Asia mean anything to you?"

"Nope." Ruby responded.

"No, they don't." Answered a bemused Weiss. "What do they mean?"

"They're the names of some continents where I'm from." It said. "But I think there is one surefire way to know for sure." The android moved towards the window and pulled aside the curtains. It stared intently into the night sky.

Ruby stood up next to the machine and looked outside as well, trying to discern what exactly it was looking at.

"If I wasn't sure before I'm definitely sure now."

"Why what is it?"

"The moon."

"What about it?"

"It's broken."

"Oh. I'm guessing it's in one piece back home?" Ruby speculated.

"Yeah, it is." The android confirmed.

"Hmm."

"Hmm indeed."

The duo pondered on the new information for a moment before the robot suddenly spoke up. "Well none of that really matters now does it? I'm here now and apparently I've unintentionally possessed your ah, property. Sorry about that."

"It's no problem." The girl answered sincerely.

"...Now what do I do? I get the feeling that a sentient robot looking for a job isn't exactly a common sight around here." It stated

"Nope. Wait, what do you need a job for?" She asked.

"Living expenses of course. I'll probably need to ingest fuel or recharge or something every so often. And let's not forget maintenance costs..."

"Well, you could always stay here." Ruby suggested.

"Pardon?"

"Yeah, I mean, I was already planning on taking care of a robot. Not much has changed. You need somewhere to stay and someone to take care of you. I need an assistant. It's a win-win right?"

The android turned to face her "Well, what kind of work would this entail?"

"Anything I might need help with, I guess. Picking things up, cleaning things up, moving things, killing things. You know, anything an extra set of hands might come in handy for." She happily explained.

"Killing things? I hope you mean small bugs." It worried.

"Those too. But I mean things a little bigger than that."

He knew there had to be a catch. A second shot at life? There had to be a catch. At first he thought waking up as a machine was the catch. Which he was okay with. It would take some getting used to, but it wasn't a big deal. Then he thought officially being the property of a teenage girl was the catch. Which didn't seem so bad; she seemed talented if she could put something as complicated as a humanoid robot together.

Now, he was having second thoughts about that.

"What do you mean 'bigger'?" He asked.

The girl with the red cloak, still wearing a cheery smile, elaborated. "Like scorpions the size of buses, and birds the size of aircraft!"

"...Are you being serious?" He hoped to God she wasn't.

"Of course! There's also wolves and bears and snakes and a whole bunch of other monsters that want to rip people's faces off!" Her face turned to an expression of puzzlement. "Are there no Grimm where you're from?"

"What's a Grimm?" He asked just as confused.

"You know, the monsters that do nothing but hurt people."

"The soulless monsters that have been bent on the destruction of humanity for as long as we can remember." White added matter-of-factly. She was still standing near the desks at the front of the room.

And he found the catch. He was reborn into a world where humanity had to fight or face extinction. Oh joy.

"So, wait. You're telling me that this is a world where violent creatures are actively trying to wipe out civilization?" He voiced, receiving solemn nods. "There was nothing like that back home. All the animals the could pose an existential danger to humans are either extinct, not aggressive enough, or too few in number to do anything."

"Must be peaceful." Red wistfully sighed.

"Hardly." He replied "People still kill each other all the time."

Red seemed disheartened by this while White nodded knowingly. He wondered how dangerous these 'Grimm' were if Red honestly expected him to be able to kill them. He asked in a roundabout way.

"So, how have you guys survived this long against genocidal monsters?"

"Proper application of Dust and Aura of course." White recited.

"Big walls, razor sharp blades, and a whole lot of guns." Red said.

While what Red said made perfect sense to him, White's statement confused him. Though he pressed on with the questions. "And you expect me to be able to kill one of these things?"

"You won't be alone. I'll be right there with you." Red assured.

"You can fight?"

"Yep! I can, she can, everyone here at the academy can." She said proudly.

"Academy?"

"Oh yeah. We're in Beacon Academy, where the very best come to train to be Huntsmen!"

"What's a Huntsmen?"

"Someone who fights for what's right and protects those who can't help themselves!" She explained. "Normally we'd be called upon to slay Grimm, but Huntsmen and Huntresses are also supposed to help keep the peace between the kingdoms."

It got better, or worse, apparently. Not only was he in a world inhabited by blood-thirsty monsters, but there was a special group of people conditioned to fight them. And this girl was most likely training to become one. Wonderful.

"And you're one of these Huntresses? You've killed before?" He questioned.

"Not yet, we're still in training. But yeah. I have a few Grimm kills to my name." Red stated.

He sized the girl up. She couldn't be more than five-two! And she looked so innocent...

"That's hard to believe." He said truthfully.

Red gave him a bright smile and stepped back a few paces. She reached under her cloak and pulled out a rather large rectangular... thing. She held it out in front of her and it transformed. It extended and unfolded into a mechanical masterpiece: a scythe whose length was almost twice the girl's height. More interesting however were what looked like an optical scope, bolt action, and a magazine fitted into a receiver along the weapons haft.

"Is... that a gun?" He asked dumbfounded.

"It's also a scythe." She answered with near manic grin plastered on her face.

What. The. Hell.

He was going to question it. He was gonna ask important things like 'How do you even lift that' or 'How is that even practical'. A small, insane part of him wanted to ask about its muzzle velocity. But he didn't say anything. The girl in front of him looked serious with that thing in her hands. A crazy kind of serious, but serious all the same.

He consciously reminded himself he was on another world and that he would most likely see things that would challenge what he believed to be possible. "Sure, why not."

She laughed. Red laughed like any other innocent kid would. "So what do you think? You wanna work with my team?"

Team. He was sure she meant besides her and White over there. It would explain why there was two sets of bunk beds in this room. But did he want to work with her? It would be nice to have some friends in this new world. It would mean slaying monsters and saving would mean... being someone who mattered. A hero; like a damn fairytale. And besides, it's not like he had anything better to do at the moment.

"I think... I'm gonna have to say yes." He finally said.

Red swiftly folded her scythe-gun back up and put it on her back. "I'm glad for that. Now I won't have to tell anyone the robot I built ran away!" She giggled.

He audibly laughed at Red's little joke but said something he felt was important. "I expect to be entering this agreement as an equal. I ask that you treat me like a human being and not so much disposable equipment."

"Of course. I wouldn't have it any other way." Red said genuinely.

He suddenly realized something: he never got her name or introduced himself! He would rectify it as they sealed the deal.

He stuck a hand out in a waiting handshake which thankfully didn't seem to be a foreign concept here as the girl quickly reciprocated the gesture. As they shook he simply said "Charlie Flater."

"I'm sorry?"

"My name. It's Charlie Flater."

Understanding dawned on her face as she replied "Oh shoot I never introduced myself either did I? My name's Ruby Rose."

"A pleasure to meet you Ruby. And what about you?" He called out the only other person in the room. "I presume you have a name?"

The white clad girl scoffed and trudged over. "Weiss Schnee." She said in a flat, neutral tone. He broke off the shake with Ruby and offered his hand to Weiss which she reluctantly took a hold of and gave two, very stiff shakes before pulling back.

"Ruby. Hallway. Now." Weiss grabbed the red cloaked girl by the wrist and drug her off.

"Wha- Weiss? Hey! What's this about!?" Was all the protest the other girl got out before the door slammed behind them, leaving Charlie alone in the room. 'Or is it a dormitory?' He thought, remembering that Ruby said they where in an academy.

He wondered what caused Weiss to react the way she did. He knew next to nothing about the white haired girl so this could be normal behaviour. Maybe.

"Hmm."

* * *

Weiss let go of Ruby's arm and slammed the door behind them. Ruby herself was confused by their sudden departure from the room so offered no resistance.

"Ruby." Weiss started.

"Yes Weiss?" Ruby answered.

"WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU THINKING!?" Weiss demanded.

"Hey, relax! What's the problem?" The red of the two pleaded.

"What's the problem? My teammates 'project' is being possessed by an apparently alien soul and your just gonna let it stay? Can't you see that there are some slight concerns?"

"Name one!"

"We know nothing about it! It could be homicidal!" Weiss reasoned.

"If he tries anything I can always shut him down from my Scroll!" Ruby countered, then remembering she hadn't synched the device to the robot yet. She decided to keep quiet about that.

"He? It's a machine Ruby. It's an it."

"His name is Charlie and he's a he."

"Fine." Weiss huffed in frustration. "Why do you even want to keep him? I don't think anything like this has happened before. Maybe we should turn him over to the experts."

"I don't think there are any experts on this sort of thing, Weiss."

"You know what I mean Ruby. This" she pointed towards the door "is above our level. We should take him to someone with authority. We, should take him to Ozpin. The Headmaster has to know."

"Bu- Weiss!"

"Ruby, as your teammate and your partner I must insist you do this much."

Ruby knew Weiss was right. She knew it was impulsive to arrange for a complete stranger to basically join her team as quickly as she did. She also knew someone would know about Charlie sooner or later. So why not let someone know about him now? And who better than the Headmaster of Beacon? However she feared that Charlie would get taken away; to be cut apart and studied.

'But someone will know eventually.' She couldn't help but feel protective of him. Ruby felt slightly responsible for the whole situation they were in, after all she rebuilt the android in the first place.

"You're right Weiss" Ruby relented "let's take him to Ozpin."

"Thank you." Weiss let out a relieved sigh.

* * *

The two informed Charlie of their intentions for him to meet the Headmaster of the academy. As far as they knew, his particular condition was unheard of. So they deemed it necessary for the head of the institution to be informed of the situation.

Ruby and Weiss walked side by side as he followed them a from a short distance behind as they led him across campus. The few people out wandering to and fro paid them little mind as most just gave a short glance or turned their heads to look as they passed. This small detail stuck out to him; it told him that he wasn't an uncommon sight.

Their short journey ended in the lobby of a large tower near the center of the school. Inside, the trio moved into a waiting elevator and Ruby pressed the button indicating the room at the top of the structure.

The elevator began its climb to the top of the tower. Charlie half expected ambient music to begin to play, but the ascent was silent save for a breath of nervousness from Ruby. Had this been normal circumstances, he would offered the two girls a stick of gum: one of his go-to methods for defeating awkward silences. Needless to say he didn't have a pack of gum on hand, or rather, in pocket.

'After this I should get a backpack or bag of some kind. Even a vest with pockets would do wonders.'

The elevator decelerated and the door emitted a customary 'ding' sound before opening and revealing a rather large, circular room. Inside, and most noticeable, were the large turning gears set inside the walls. Looking up revealed a glass ceiling with even more and larger gears in motion above it. 'Perhaps it's a clock tower and I just didn't see the face when we arrived.' He thought.

On the opposite end of the room was an intricate looking desk of glass and metal; its design reminding him of the clockwork surrounding him. Behind that was a large hemispheric window roughly twice the height of a man. And standing before that, his point of reference.

A bespectacled middle-aged man with a full head of greying hair in a black three piece suit and a dark green scarf wrapped around his neck observed their approach. "Miss Rose, Miss Schnee. Always a pleasure to see my students." The man said. "Although, I rarely get visitors at this time of the evening. What brings you to my office?"

"Well, you see, uh, sir we, no, I did a thing." Ruby stammered out.

The man picked up a mug off the desk and took a sip. "Would this 'thing' have anything to do with the android you brought with you?"

"Uh, yes sir."

"What happened, Ruby?"

"Well, I may have somehow accidentally given it a... soul."

The man reached into his pants pocket and retrieved a slightly larger than hand sized black object. He pulled it apart, revealing it to be some kind of collapsible touchscreen tablet with a translucent interface. He deftly navigated the device, and when he opened the application he needed, he pointed the device in Charlie's direction.

"Hmmm. Interesting. You're right Ruby, that machine is definitely generating an Aura." The man stated. "Do you have any idea how this happened?"

"I think, I should let him speak for himself."

Charlie took that as his cue to speak. "Good evening."

"Oh? You can talk."

"Indeed I can, sir."

"Do you have a name?" The suited man asked.

"My name is Charlie Flater. And you?"

"Everyone around here calls me Professor Ozpin. And as I'm sure these two have told you, I am the Headmaster of Beacon Academy."

"Yes, yes they have. It's good to meet you sir."

Ozpin took another sip from his mug "So, what seems to be the issue?"

"We came here to ask what should become of him, sir" Weiss informed.

"I see." Ozpin said. "Ruby, how did Charlie come into your care?"

"He started as a project I've been working on." Ruby answered. "I wanted to build an assistant."

"He looks oddly similar to the units we use in the sparring halls."

"That's because I, uh, got it from there." Ruby said. "But I didn't just take it! I asked permission first."

"Really? Well okay, as long as the Quartermaster approved." Ozpin allowed.

"And what about you Mister Flater? Did you simply come online and choose a name?

"No sir." Charlie answered. "I was Human, once. Last thing I remember was getting hit by a car."

"So you claim you died and came back." Ozpin stated. "How did you accomplish this?"

"Someone or something asked me." Charlie replied.

"Hmmm." The headmaster hummed. "Where did you live? Have you tried contacting any relatives or friends?

"I doubt I'd be able to reach them." Charlie said. "That something that gave me second chance told me I'd have live it on another world."

That elicited a raised eyebrow and a drawn out drink from the mug. "So you say you're from another world..." Ozpin said. "What was the name of your home then?

"Its name is Earth." Charlie answered. "And up until this point it was the only life bearing world I knew of... It's good to know we're not as alone as we thought."

"Indeed. If you truly are from another world then let me be the first to say welcome to Remnant." Ozpin greeted.

"Thank you Professor."

Ozpin walked over to the group and offered a handshake to Charlie, which he graciously accepted. "Now then Miss Rose. What were you planning on doing about this?"

"I was just going to continue what I originally set out to do." Ruby said. "I still want a helper and he needs somewhere to stay. He could be considered as a part of Team RWBY."

Ozpin hummed in thought as he paced back behind his desk. When he took his seat he spoke. "I can't enroll him in the school and make him officially a part of your team. But it seems to me your idea is sound."

"Miss Rose, Mister Flater is now your complete responsibility, for now. Mister Flater, Miss Rose should be considered your direct superior. Officially, you will be listed as a piece of special equipment under her possession. However Ruby, I expect you to treat Charlie with the same dignity and respect as you would any other person. Flater, report any exploitation." Ozpin dictated.

Weiss's jaw dropped in shock. Shocked that the Headmaster was supporting her partner's original plan. "But sir! There are so many things we don't know! Anything could go wrong here!"

"I know, Miss Schnee." Ozpin confirmed. "But tell me Weiss, is there any better place to study something like this than our institution?"

"I... well... No sir." The white haired girl answered.

"So you have an ulterior motive for arranging this." Charlie said.

Ozpin took a swig from his mug. "I am guilty of nothing but the pursuit of knowledge. You are a unique case that warrants study and I'm very curious." He smiled. "Consider this an assignment, girls."

Ruby fist pumped in celebration of the approval, Weiss facepalmed, and Charlie merely looked between the two and shrugged.

"I wasn't kidding. I expect a report written by the end of the semester."

Weiss perked up at that. The chance to earn more credits was always welcome. Ruby however, you could almost see some of the joy physically leaving her. "Alright." Ruby spoke. "I think that's all for now."

"Indeed." Ozpin replied. "I will contact you if I think of anything else. You may go now."

The trio turned and began to walk away when the Headmaster called out "Miss Schnee." He gestured for her to come closer and for the other two to keep walking. When she got to the front of his desk he said in a low voice "If anything does go wrong, I expect you to do your duty as a future Huntress."

Weiss's eyes widened. "Of course, sir."

"Very good. If they ask what this was about tell them I suggested starting by getting to know each other better." He sighed deeply. "You may take your leave now."

The white dressed girl spun on her heel, walked away and joined her compatriots in the elevator. When the doors closed and they departed, Ozpin took one last drink from his coffee and said aloud to the empty room "So, he was telling the truth."

* * *

**Author's Note: Hello. This is my first attempt at a fanfiction. I started writing this chapter early in September and finished sometime in mid-October. If you liked this, I have chapter two finished but I don't want to upload it until I finish chapter three which I only started working on yesterday.**

**Please let me know what you think of this concept. Thank you.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Soooo... What'd Ozpin say, Weiss?" Ruby asked.

The elevator doors closed after Weiss entered and the car began its descent. "He said that..." she trailed off "that I need to make sure you stay focused!" The white haired girl snapped.

"Focused on what, exactly?" Charlie said.

"School, of course. And studying you." Weiss replied.

"Of course." He flatly stated. "Now what do we do?"

"Well." Ruby began. "We should probably introduce you to Yang and Blake. I think they're still in the library, so we'll look for them there."

"I assume Yang and Blake are the two other members of your team?"

"Yep!"

"Then I look forward to meeting them... Err, say, what are they like? Charlie asked. "I should make a good first impression."

Ruby cast a glance at him. "Hmm, well Blake is quiet. But nice and mellow and reads a lot. And Yang is my sister. She's..."

"A loud, obnoxious, brute." Weiss interjected. "...but competent." She added reluctantly after getting a sour look from Ruby.

"So, Blake is the bookish type and Yang sounds like a party girl." Charlie concluded.

"That would be accurate." Weiss confirmed.

"Hmm."

They descended the rest of the way down in a comfortable silence. When the elevator doors parted, they walked out into the empty lobby. As they were walking Ruby pointed something out. "You know, you should lower your faceplate."

Charlie assumed Ruby was speaking to him. "I have a faceplate?" He felt the top of his head and sure enough found a large, metal protrusion. He slid the thing down over his face, which smoothly locked into place. His vision wasn't obscured in the slightest thanks to the way the visor built into it was designed.

"That looks better!" The girl commented.

"Hey, wait, what did my face look like without the plate?"

"It was just a blank green." Ruby stated. "It was actually kinda creepy looking."

"Gee, thanks."

"Mmhmm!"

Weiss stepped in front of him and examined his new look. "At least it's not as unsettling as the faceless look. Now I know where your eyes are."

"Was it that bad?" Charlie asked. "Why didn't you guys say anything sooner?"

"I dunno. I guess I thought you had a reason."

If Charlie had eyeballs he would have rolled them. "Bah, oh well. Let's just go find this library. Where is it anyway?"

"Not very far, come on!"

* * *

It turned out Beacon Academy had a magnificent library. It took the form of a grand hall with high, vaulted ceilings which had what looked like holographic banners with simple geometric designs hanging from them. Tall bookshelves lined the length of the hall in orderly rows. Above those bookshelves, another level was built as a balcony of sorts with even more, albeit smaller, bookshelves visible on top of that. In the middle of the hall along the length lined up with the shelves were white tables with twin bulbed desk lamps. A handful of students could be seen scattered around the library; most of them sitting at the tables reading and writing, with a few loners browsing through the books.

All in all, it reminded Charlie fondly of his own school days; afternoons spent studying at various public libraries.

Ruby and Weiss stopped and glanced around in search of their two friends but apparently not finding them as they continued on.

"No luck?" Charlie asked.

"They're probably upstairs." Ruby replied.

Charlie nodded and followed her lead to a stairwell tucked in a corner at the opposite end of the library. He noted that many of the students they passed would give him a strange look but then continue on with their business.

"People are looking at me funny."

"Probably because it's not normal for a training bot to be in the library."

"But I'm not a training bot..."

"Well, they don't know that."

"True."

After a brief ascent up a spiral staircase, the trio surveyed the upper floor. "Let's check where we usually sit." Ruby suggested. Charlie and Weiss wordlessly complied and followed. The red cloaked girl led them to the far end; back on the side where the entrance was. Sitting at a table between bookshelves were two girls, one with long, wavy, black hair and wearing a black bow on her head, and the other with a long mane of blonde hair. Like many other female students they had passed on the way here, the two were wearing what seemed to be the school's uniform: a red, plaid skirt and black jacket with white shirt.

"And there they are!" Ruby announced.

The blonde looked up from her hands, she was holding one of those tablet things, and greeted them.

"Hey guys! Whoa, Ruby did you finally get that thing working?" She exclaimed.

"Shhh." The blonde was shushed by the girl with the black bow.

"Inside voice you! We're in a library!" Weiss chastised with a loud whisper.

"Sorry!" The blonde apologized with the same kind of whisper.

The three of them walked over to the table and Ruby began the introductions. "Anyway! Yang, Blake, meet our new friend Charlie. Charlie, Yang" she pointed to the blonde "and Blake" she gestured to the black haired girl.

"It's good to meet you two." Charlie said and extended a hand to Yang.

"Of course, same to you." Yang shook with what would have been a bone crushing grip. "Pretty awesome A.I. you put in there sis!"

Charlie cast a glance in Ruby's direction before offering a handshake to Blake, who put down her book, took his hand, and shook lightly before looking at Ruby for an explanation.

"Well, you see... a funny thing happened."

* * *

"So, in conclusion..."

"It's not an AI?"

"Nope. And apparently he was Human."

"A Human from another world."

"Yeah, that too."

"And Ozpin wants us to watch him?"

"Yes..."

"And I look forward to working with you all."

Team RWBY had left the library and headed back to their dorm room; Ruby and Weiss explaining the situation to Blake and Yang as they walked, with Charlie trailing just behind the quartet. By the time they arrived back in their room and shut the door, they had finished retelling his tale.

"Alright, cool, I get it. He needs someone to stay with. But did it have to be... us?" Yang said. "I mean, don't get me wrong you seem okay and all but you would think Ozpin would have taken him out of our hands."

"Oh, I'm sure the Headmaster will still be monitoring me but he wants you four to do some of the studying." Charlie spoke. "And as to why I have to stay here... perhaps he's just busy. Or maybe because Ruby technically 'owns me'" he emphasized with air quotes. "Speaking of that, what should I do now?"

All eyes in the room turned to their red cloaked team leader for an answer. "Let's see..." Ruby glanced at a digital clock that read 9:12 P.M. "It's getting pretty late and we have early classes tomorrow, so we really can't do much right now. Maybe we should just start up tomorrow. Until then, let's all get some rest."

"I wonder if I'm even capable of sleep anymore..." Charlie wondered.

"Let's find out. Hold still."

"Wait, what?" Charlie managed to get out before Ruby pulled out a cellphone-sized silver object from a compartment on her belt he just noticed. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to try and synch up my Scroll to you so I can see if you have a sleep or standby function." She stated.

"Oh, well okay." He relented and let her get behind him where she opened a small, inconspicuous, panel at the base of his head and plugged the device in. He felt a strange but not uncomfortable pressure when it pushed into place. In the upper right corner of his vision, a notification appeared with a spinning circular symbol and the word 'SYNCHRONIZING'. It quickly flashed green and disappeared.

"I think it's done."

Ruby wordlessly pulled the device from the socket and stepped back in front of him, pulling the object apart and revealing it to be another one of those tablet things. "What'd you call that thing? A Scroll?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah I did. Why?"

"Nothing. I just suppose the name fits."

She smiled and nodded before announcing "And here it is. Apparently, I can have you go into a sleep mode from here."

"Well, if we're not doing anything right now just put me under." Charlie asked. Almost immediately he got a prompt that said "Set Sleep time." He thought eight hours instinctively and that amount was entered in the timer. He confirmed the decision and the world went dark around him.

...in his point of view.

For the four young women in the room however, his optics dimmed with a slow, rhythmic, pulsing while his body hunched over and folded into a sort of fetal position; his legs drawn up towards the chest and arms wrapped around the knees. To anyone remotely familiar with the androids used for training purposes in the school, they would recognize this position as the default state the machines took when not active. Which they did.

"Did... did he just fall asleep in the middle of the room?" Weiss huffed in disbelief.

"I guess so." Ruby sighed. "Anyone wanna help me move him?"

"I gotcha little sis." Yang answered and strode over to help Ruby. The two sisters each grabbed an arm and drug Charlie's dormant body to the corner of the room next to Ruby and Weiss's bunks.

After that was taken care of, the four members of Team RWBY got ready for bed. Besides the usual idle chitchat that would be expected, nothing significant happened. Yang fell asleep quickly; the girl passing out almost as soon as she laid down. Weiss tossed and turned for awhile; not feeling entirely comfortable with having to basically sleep next to Charlie. Blake read a book by candlelight for over an hour before extinguishing the flame and pulling a blanket over her head.

Ruby lay awake in her suspended bed and thought about what she should do during the next day. After classes she would probably need to see how capable Charlie was in a fight. She wondered if he could use the combat techniques that all the training androids had loaded into their drives. If he could it would be immensely helpful. She had some fond -albeit painful- memories of sparring with robots similar to Charlie back at Signal. Ruby knew those things could be scary to novice fighters, and with an Aura and real intelligence she knew something like that could be dangerous. Even to a Huntsmen.

She decided she could work with that. With a contented smirk, she pulled her sleep mask over her eyes, turned onto her left side, and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

After the world went dark around him, the only thing left in Charlie's field of view was a digital number readout with a notched line above it, like an unlabeled number line. The numbers read 21:15 and the line had an arrow pointing up on the far left side. As soon as he processed these facts however, the arrow moved over to the right by one space and the numbers changed to 22:15.

Out of curiosity he counted how many spaces were on the line and found, coincidentally, eight. The arrow moved to the right and the numbers changed to 23:15.

Perhaps it wasn't coincidental. Maybe, he thought, the line and arrow represented some sort of progress bar. If that were the case then the numbers were most probably a twenty-four hour clock. The arrow moved, the clock changed to 00:15.

"So this is probably how my new body handles sleep." Charlie thought. The whole interface seemed vaguely familiar; like something out of a role-playing video game. The arrow moved, the clock changed to 1:15.

Just like that, hours gone by in what felt like seconds.

2:15

If sleep was going to be like this, perhaps he should have just stayed awake.

3:15

He wondered what kind of things he could do with eight hours of no one bothering him. Maybe explore the campus and the nearby area.

4:15

You could get a lot of walking done in eight hours after all. Besides, he needed to test his endurance. How far could this body go before needing to recharge or refuel? Did it even need to? Ruby didn't discount it when he brought it up earlier that night so probably...

5:15

His vision returned, the control over his limbs restored. He stood and the visor on his head slid over his face. He tried to stretch out of habit but didn't feel any pleasure from it. He still needed to get used to not being fleshy.

Charlie panned his head to the left and saw the white canopy covering Ruby's bed. Looking down he found Weiss sleeping peacefully in the bottom bunk.

It was still dark in the room. At five in the morning it was to be expected. There was a faint dawn light coming through the window; a promise that sunrise was near. Charlie stepped away from his corner of the room and moved towards the front door. He figured he could explore the area while no one was up. He'd be back within an hour, probably. Hopefully Ruby would be awake, for as loathe as he was to admit it, he needed someone to tell him what to do at the moment.

"Listen to me, becoming servile. Oh well. Perhaps it's for the best." Charlie muttered quietly.

He was about to turn the knob and open the door when a voice startled him. "Good morning."

He whipped his head back and found the source of the voice. "Ah, good morning Blake." The black haired girl was huddled in a blanket and propped up against the headboard of her bed with a book in hand. She was also still wearing a black bow on her head he noticed.

"Where are you going?" Blake asked.

"Just going to explore the nearby area. Don't worry about it I don't need a, ah, chaperone." Charlie replied. "If Ruby wakes up before I come back, please tell her what I'm up to. I'll return within the hour."

"Okay." Was her simple response. Charlie took that as his cue to leave and promptly opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. But before he left he said one more thing to Blake. "You know, you shouldn't read in poorly lit rooms. You'll strain your eyes." Although he knew it wouldn't lead to any permanent damage like his parents told him when he was a child, hours of late night and early morning cram sessions had acquainted him very well with the annoying feeling on his eyes.

Blake's eyes widened ever so slightly before she turned on a nearby desk lamp. "I'll be sure to remember that." She said.

"Won't that light wake them up?" He said referring to everyone else in the room.

"They need to get up anyway." Blake said with an almost undetectable amount of sadism.

Meanwhile on the upper bunk, Yang turned over into her pillow and muffled out. "Turn it off! It's not time yet!"

Charlie chuckled darkly. "Ah... with friends like these, eh?" Blake nodded without looking up from her book.

"Anyway, I'll see you around."

* * *

He wandered about the winding halls of the dorm building for twenty minutes, familiarizing himself with its layout. He didn't run into anyone while he did this either, which was strange. But he could hear the telltale signs of life around him; a door shutting too hard, hurried footsteps a floor above him, and muffled speech coming through certain walls.

"I wonder if they're awake yet..." Charlie thought.

He wondered what he should do now. He went through the whole building already and remembered small details about it with startling clarity, so there'd be no point in going again. The only place he hadn't been yet was the roof. He looked out a nearby window and saw the sun was only just beginning to rise. "I haven't watched a sunrise in awhile." Charlie thought as he made his way to the roof.

Conveniently enough, there was a door to the roof access stairwell located near the girl's dorm room. The climb up was uneventful; It was exactly as he'd come to expect for something like this: dull, gray, featureless concrete walls and stairs lit up by harsh white lighting.

When he got to the top, he pushed opened the door and scanned the rooftop. No one there. He vocalized a contented sigh and took to standing near the edge of the roof.

He wasn't sure exactly how long he stood there. Well, that was a lie. He had a digital clock in the upper left hand side of his vision. 5:52, apparently. But the only outside indication that time was passing at all was the movement of the clouds, trees, and that the sun itself was noticeably more visible compared to a few buildings silhouetted by its light. It was a beautiful sight though, what with the way the light reflected off the clouds and various ponds and fountains.

'Its been far too long since I've done this...' Charlie thought.

Although he was relaxed in his current state, his attention was not completely absorbed by watching the sun. So it would come to no surprise that he did hear the door to the roof open and a few footsteps behind him.

"Oh, uh, hi." A distinctly male voice sounded behind him. "I didn't think anyone would be up here."

Charlie turned around to look at the newcomer. A blonde kid in the male school uniform, that is, a black suit with gold buttons and lining, blue vest, white shirt and red necktie.

"And it's a robot. Okay, sure, how'd it get up here?" The kid seemed to speak to himself.

"I walked." Charlie answered coolly.

"Oh. Well, uh, who owns you?"

If he had an eyebrow to raise, he would of. "I don't know if you know her but, Ruby Rose?"

"Ruby? I know Ruby! She's a friend. Wait, she owns you?"

"Sort of. She put this body back together so we've come to an agreement."

"Oh, I remember her saying something about working on a project in her free time a few days ago. I'm guessing that's you?" The blonde guy said.

"Apparently so." Charlie said.

"I wonder how she did it...You must have a really good A.I. 'cause you sound like an actual person."

"Yes. Yes, I suppose you could say that."

"Well anyway... what're you doing up here? Won't Ruby be looking for you?"

"She was still asleep when I left the room, but I'll be returning in just a few minutes so everything should be fine." Charlie said. "And what am I doing up here? Watching the sunrise of course. I assume you're here to do the same?"

"Yeah, I am. I come up here on some mornings it... helps me relax."

"Indeed, it does."

The two of them, man and machine, stood there quietly observing the peaceful sunrise for several more minutes before Charlie abruptly turned to the blonde kid. "I'll be leaving now."

"Oh okay." He acknowledged "Tell Ruby I said hi."

"I would, if I knew your name."

"Uh, Jaune Arc."

"Alright Jaune. Call me Charlie by the way."

"Okay, see you later... Charlie!" Jaune called out as the machine walked away, in the door and down the stairs.

"Man. That was weird." Jaune said to the empty rooftop.

* * *

The trip down was as uneventful as the trip up. Charlie quickly descended down the stairs and onto the level of the dorm room he was looking for. When he reached the door he rapped four times and waited for someone to open the door, stealing a look to his left and right around the hall.

The door swung open and revealed Ruby herself on the other side. "Oh, there you are Charlie! I was starting to wonder what happened to you." She was wearing the plaid skirt, mostly black and gold-detailed jacket, white collared shirt, and black leggings he'd come to associate as the school's uniform. Oddly enough, she was still wearing her red, hooded cloak.

"Just had a walk around the dormitories, as I'm sure Blake told you." The mentioned girl was sitting on the side of her bed, fully dressed and ready for the day, reading a book.

"Yeah she did. Just couldn't help being a little concerned though." Ruby wrung her hands together.

"I don't think anyone would be stupid enough to take him, Ruby." The distinctive voice of Weiss called out. The door to the bathroom stood open with Weiss in front of the mirror brushing her long, white, hair. She was dressed much in the same way as Ruby, minus the leggings and cloak. "The paint and lights would make it clear to anyone that he belongs to someone."

"First, I don't 'belong' to anyone." Charlie said defensively. "Second, you painted me?"

"You weren't... alive yet when I painted you." Ruby defended. "Besides I think the jet black suits you better than the lightish gray I got you with. I'm not sure how the green lighting happened though..."

Charlie shrugged.

"Anyway, how was your walk? See anything interesting?" Ruby asked.

"Not really... well, I was just on the roof and I met some blonde guy who said he knew you. A Jaune Arc?" Charlie replied.

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, I know him. He's the leader of team Juniper and a friend."

"What were you doing on the roof?" Yang questioned from her place in a chair by a desk, putting on a shoe.

"I was watching the sunrise. As was Jaune apparently." He answered.

"Oh."

That was the end of that. A few more minutes passed as Weiss and Yang finished getting ready for the day's classes. Charlie browsed a few of the bookshelves in the room, picking out a good sized textbook titled "A History of The Modern World." He pulled up a chair at another desk and began to read.

The Founding of The Kingdoms, four bastions of life from the creatures of Grimm: Atlas in the north, Mistral to the east, Vacuo in the west, and Vale in the relative geographic center of them all.

The Long Peace, a period lasting several hundred years. The peace being a relative term as while there were no major human or faunus conflicts, the Grimm threat still loomed.

'What's a faunus?' Charlie wondered. He flipped to the back of the book and searched through the glossary for the word.

'Ah, here it is. Faunus: a humanoid race who possess physical and behavioral animal traits. What?' He decided to ask.

"Hey Ruby, what's a faunus?"

While the red girl was making herself look busy by reviewing the few notes she had, she was actually watching Charlie out of the corner of her eye; slightly puzzled at the rate he was turning pages.

"A Faunus is uh, you know... those people with the animal features like extra ears, horns, or tails." Ruby stated.

"Is that... common?" Charlie slowly said.

"Faunus make up a significant minority of the total population." Blake answered from her place on the bed. She was looking up from her book now, eyes narrowed. "Are there no Faunus where you're from?"

"No. None at all. I mean, there are similar figures in mythology and popular culture but they don't actually exist."

"A whole world with no Grimm or Faunus. Wow, that's pretty weird..." Yang trailed off.

"Weird to you maybe." Charlie said simply and went back to reading.

The Great War, the cracks in the unity and solidarity of civilization began to show. Territory, trade, and ideological squabbles boiled over into the largest open war in recorded history. Only the forced removal of certain authority figures and mounting pressure from the creatures of Grimm put an end to it.

The Faunus Rights Revolution. In an incredible example of racism, various Human factions tried to force all the Faunus in the world into the confines of an island called Menagerie. A shorter bout of bloodshed compared to the conflict before it, the Faunus won their right to live wherever they desired. In the aftermath, a group called the White Fang formed as an advocacy group of sorts for Faunus. The book depressingly noted that they had since fallen from grace and become a known terrorist group as evidenced by the string of attacks committed under their name in recent years.

...And that was pretty much it. There were many small events, which Charlie did read, but those four were the most important sections that really stuck out to him. Especially the last two; they reminded him of Earth's own recent history. Another thing that stuck out to him was the book's constant references and allusions to those two strange terms again: 'Dust' and 'Aura'. The glossary didn't help much with that either; the definitions being rather vague.

He knew he was reading for quite some time, so when he looked up from his book he was surprised to find that the four girls were still in the room.

He checked the clock in the corner of his vision: 6:29. What. 'But I got in the room at around 6:10 and started reading shortly after... did I just read a history book cover to cover in just over fifteen minutes?'

He shut the book with an audible thud. "So, anyone care to fill me in on a couple things?"

"Sure, what's up?" Ruby responded.

"I know I probably should have asked this sooner, especially since you guys have mentioned it a few times already but... define 'Dust' and 'Aura'.

"What? What do you mean?"

"I mean what is this Dust and Aura? This book-" he pointed to the history book "referenced it multiple times, and so have you. So, what are they?"

"No, I know what you meant. What I mean is how could you not know what they are?" Ruby asked perplexed.

"Dust just means dust to me, like the dust in the air and what settles on rarely cleaned furniture. And Aura... the word aura can have certain controversial connotations where I'm from."

"Okay, wait." Yang chimed in "I can get not knowing about Aura. Not everybody actually even understands it's a thing here. But Dust?"

"Help me out here then? What is Dust?" Charlie said.

"Dust is... actually, Weiss would probably be the best person to explain it."

Charlie turned to the white haired girl with what would have been an expectant look on his face. That is, if he had a face capable of expression. She quirked an eyebrow and sighed.

"Dust," Weiss began "is a naturally occurring energy propellant." She went over to her bunk and stuck an arm under it, pulling out a white briefcase. "It was by utilizing Dust that humanity drove the Grimm back far enough to build civilization, as I'm sure that book said." She stated to which Charlie nodded. "Dust is found naturally in highly concentrated crystals which are then processed into a fine powder, or dust as its name implies."

As she was explaining, Weiss had set the briefcase onto the desk, opened and pulled out four glass vials filled with a brightly colored powder of some description; one a rich red, one a pale blue, one a lush green, and the last a vibrant yellow.

"There are four basic or primal varieties of Dust: Fire, Ice, Wind, and Lightning" Weiss pointed to the red, blue, green, and yellow vials respectively "which can be combined together in countless different ways by type and proportion to create innumerable effects."

"How do you use it? From the way the book seemed to allude to it, it sounds pretty powerful." Charlie said.

"You would be correct, it's extremely powerful. And using Dust can be both simple and complicated." Weiss explained. "You can get a reaction out of most varieties relatively easily; I could set something on fire by throwing this vial of Fire Dust hard enough at it. This is basically the method most people use in their everyday lives because it's the simple way. You see it happening everywhere, like cars combusting fuel mixtures to move or the firing pin in a gun striking a cartridge and igniting the Dust contained within. The bullet might even have Dust inside it as well, which will react upon impact.

"The other way to use Dust is the more complicated and far more elegant way: interfacing directly with Aura."

"An Aura, put simply, is an energy field generated by all living beings, except Grimm. A physical manifestation of willpower, or the reflection of the soul onto the material world as some would say. And one of the things that make Dust so interesting is how it can be activated by Aura."

"Now" she started "I could go on and on about how this happens and why it works, but I won't because class is starting soon and we still need to eat breakfast. I have a textbook about all this if you're really interested. Instead, I'll give you a demonstration."

Weiss picked up the yellow-filled vial and poured a pinch of the stuff into the palm of her left hand. "This is pure Lightning Dust. Observe." She pulled her hand back and cast the Dust away. The powder was airborne for a split second before being consumed by a bolt of electricity that flew out from her hand over two feet in front of her.

If he had a jaw, it would have dropped. "Holy hell. That was cool!"

Weiss had a little smirk on her face, which she quickly quashed back into a straight face. "Of course." She paused. "So, your world... you don't have Dust?"

"No, nothing of the sort." Charlie said.

"But Dust is what makes modern technology possible and you seem familiar with things like computers, firearms, robots, and everything else so I assume you had those things back home, right?"

"Well, yes."

"But without Dust... how?" Weiss asked, sounding baffled. "How does anything even work?"

"Well." Charlie assumed a thoughtful pose "Our cars run on gasoline and gunpowder is made of various different compounds."

"What the heck is gasoline?" Yang interrupted.

"It's a fuel derived from oil we extract from the ground." Charlie said. "And there's diesel too, which is made from much of the same stuff. Mostly."

"But in robotics..." he raised a hand in front of his face and flexed his fingers "something like this would be a novelty. I've heard of people building things like this" he gestured to his whole body "back home, but they're mostly one of a kind or experimental and nowhere near ready for mass production."

"I wonder what other differences there are between Remnant and Earth." Ruby thought aloud. "Wait, it is Earth right? That's what I heard when we talked with Ozpin."

"Yes Ruby, my world is called Earth." Charlie confirmed.

"Isn't that just another word for dirt? Weiss asked incredulously.

"Yeah, but it's accurate. Besides, what about Remnant? That name's a little morbid considering the history."

"A fair point."

"Mmhmm. Anyway, shouldn't you four be going now? It's nearly a quarter to seven."

"Wait, what?" Yang said. "Aha! Not this time!" The blonde proceeded to power walk out of the room.

"Uh... okay." Charlie looked around at the three remaining girls "Do I want to know?"

"She missed breakfast the last few days." Blake helpfully explained.

"Ah, I see. You three better run along then. Let's continue this chat later. The Headmaster said he wanted a report right? I can give you a rundown on most everything about the Earth, so that should help."

"Okay, we'll see you later. Try not to wander around too much, alright?"

"Don't worry about that Ruby. I'll just stay in here and read or something."

"Okay, good." Ruby happily replied. "Oh and one more thing. When I come back later this afternoon -probably around fourish- you wanna go to the practice rooms?"

"What, like battle practice?"

"Yeah. I wanna see if you can handle it."

"I don't see why not. What's there exactly? Close combat? Shooting range?"

"All of the above!"

"Alright, cool. I'll see y'all soon then."

The three girls waved goodbye on their way out the door, which quietly clicked shut behind them as they left. Charlie, seeing as he had over nine hours to burn, went back to looking for books. He was browsing the shelves near Blake's bunk when he noticed a book tucked away with its spine facing inward. Partly to make the shelf look better and partly out of curiosity, Charlie took out the book and read its title.

"Ninjas of Love? Hmm..." he flipped through the first few pages with his newfound speed reading.

"Oh my, how... lewd." Charlie glanced around the room and specially noted that the door was locked.

He continued reading.

* * *

"You know for a school training fighters, it's awfully quiet here."

"It gets busy later in the evening. Most of the newer students are still in class and all the older ones are usually in another hall or doing something else."

"I see."

Unlike many of the buildings at Beacon, the "Freshman Sparring Hall" was large, sparsely detailed, and distinctly utilitarian. It had a vaulted ceiling, but not as high as the library's. The floor was a gray, resin, tiled pattern and the walls a smooth, stark white plaster. The wall to their right -the north side- was spaced with several wide windows beyond which was the familiar lane arrangement of a firing range. On the corner of the west wall straight ahead of them there was a tall, narrow, overhead door. The only distinctive feature about it was a small control panel set into the wall right next to it.

Ruby led him towards a sliding door to enter the range. When the door slid smoothly closed behind them, they were met by the deafening silence of an enclosed space; only disrupted by the steady but easily ignored hum of an air conditioner. To his immediate right there was a screen that prominently declared "Loaners (touch to begin)". Ruby touched the screen which immediately lit up and asked to see a Scroll for identification. She promptly did so, waving the device in front of a scanner right next to it.

"Welcome. Make a selection now." The screen texted out.

The screen displayed two boxes: on the left "Combinations" and on the right "Firearms".

"What's it mean combinations?" Charlie inquired

"Those are the weapons that combine guns and melee weapons, like my scythe." Ruby explained.

"Ah, okay." He acceded and pressed the right box. "I guess that's another difference between Earth and Remnant. The closest thing we'd have would be sticking a knife to the end of a rifle."

"It makes sense. To use one you'd need to use your Aura to be effective. And no Aura users on Earth I'm guessing?" She said.

"That's exactly right, as far as I know."

"Weird."

Turning his attention back to the screen, three new buttons appeared: "Pistols", "Rifles", and "Shotguns".

'I think I'll start small.' He thought and pressed Pistols. "So Ruby, I don't know anything about the guns of this world. Any recommendations?"

"Umm... you can't go wrong with what the police use." Ruby brought up a search filter menu and checked the boxes "Large Frame" and "Semi-Automatic". The first result that came up was just a short string of letters and numbers: IKF P35.

"IKF P35?"

"Inter-Kingdom Fabrication, Pistol, thirty-five caliber." Ruby recited then blinked at Charlie's stare "What? I read a lot of weapon magazines."

"Hah, magazine." He pressed the prompt and a mechanical whirring sound started inside the walls. A few seconds passed and an inconspicuous seam parted. Out of the wall on a rack came a... gray and red, boxy, ungainly looking thing in the shape of a handgun.

"Jesus Christ it's huge." He picked it up and looked it over. "What are the tubes for?"

"There's a compartment in the back you can fill with Dust. See that switch in the rear? If you flip it it'll feed whatever Dust you have into the chamber and give your next shot an elemental punch."

Sure enough, there it was. "It's not already filled is it?"

"No, you have to bring your own Dust. I didn't bring any." Ruby shrugged.

"Oh well. Speaking of that, where do I get ammo?"

The girl pointed to just below the rack pistol arrived on. A tray was sticking out of the wall with a small plastic box and what appeared to be an extra magazine.

"Alright just pick a lane and let's start loading the magazines."

Charlie collected the box and spare mag and stepped up to the nearest lane. He fumbled around on the handgun for the magazine release, which was quite ergonomically located behind the mag well. "Hey, what's the cap on the- oh wait never mind." He answered his own question when he saw '20 RND' etched into the bottom of the magazine. He unlatched the lid of the plastic container and found forty brass circles arranged in four rows of ten. Pulling one up confirmed his thoughts: a straight-cased, brass gun cartridge with a sharply pointed, copper-coated bullet. The whole thing was about an inch and a half from base to tip by his estimate.

Ruby quietly slid the box of ammunition closer to her and began to load the spare magazine.

After another minute they finished and the girl took out her Scroll. "Alright, let's start with something easy. Ten yards." A tall rectangle with a circle target in the center slid up from the floor at the ten yard mark.

Charlie slapped a magazine into his loaned pistol, racked the slide, and took up a stance; left leg forward and slightly bent, right leg back, right arm extended with the left hand wrapped around the right one, elbow pointed down.

A by-the-book Weaver Stance; familiar to him and well practiced.

He sighted his target and squeezed off a shot. The loud crack was accompanied by shockingly little recoil, which surprised him considering the size of the round. He wrote it off as a result of the monstrously large handgun and his metal frame. 'Good news at least.' He thought mirthfully and fired off another four times.

"Pretty solid. Half-inch groups, not bad." Ruby complimented on his left, eyes on her Scroll.

"The target's linked up to that? Nice." Charlie glanced back.

"Yep."

"Wait, shouldn't you be wearing earmuffs or something?" He asked slightly concerned.

"Don't worry, I got my Aura, remember?" She assured.

"I don't see how a natural energy field helps." The machine stated. "Unless it does things other than activate Dust."

"An Aura can also be used as a shield, to heal wounds, and to boost a user's strength."

"What really? Wow, that is useful." Charlie said. "Set the target out to twenty-five yards, if you could."

Ruby answered his request by dropping the ten yard target back into the floor and raising a new one at the twenty-five yard mark.

"Wait," she said between his shots "I thought you spent all day reading?"

"I did." He punctuated with a gunshot.

"But not about Aura?"

"Nope."

"More history?"

"Some but no, mostly... fiction."

"Like what?"

"Uh. Hmm. How old are you Ruby?"

"...Fifteen?"

"Oh, uh, I see." Charlie emptied the rest of the magazine into the target. "Let's just say Blake has some... interesting books on the shelf near her bunk." He changed mags "Fifty yards if you would please."

"O-okay" Ruby stumbled and changed the targets. Charlie took aim and rapidly dumped twenty rounds down range in four seconds flat.

"Your groups are just over one inch. Really good shooting." Ruby said sounding a little impressed.

"A-thank you. I try." Charlie said dramatically taking a little bow.

She smiled and let out a short giggle. "Let's get you something a little bigger."

He returned the pistol, magazines, and ammo box to the rack and tray respectively which then receded back into the wall at the hit of a button. "Okay Ruby, know any good rifles?"

"What are you looking for?"

"Automatic, thirty rounds or more."

"There's a lot of those. Any of the military issue stuff would fit that description." Ruby said.

"Ah, good. That was my intention."

Charlie lazily browsed through the menus until he clicked a random entry in the catalog. Something called an SGW T-67, apparently. He opened the full description and a few details caught his eye: first the caliber marked as .264 which was always interesting, second and far more interestingly was the name of the manufacturer: SGW or _Schnee_ Gun Works. 'Funny, I just recently met a Schnee. I wonder if there's any relation.'

He made his selection and retrieved the rifle from the rack; white and black polymers and still boxy but narrow, finely built and easy handling. The tray under the rack dispensed a spare magazine like before but three plastic ammunition boxes came with it this time. He carried it all back to the counter by his firing lane. Popping open the three ammo boxes, which had twenty rounds in each, he diligently loaded the rifle's magazine with the short, fat, cartridges it was chambered in; Ruby once again assisting him by loading the other one to speed the process.

They finished quickly and Charlie slammed a magazine home "How far's the range go?"

"A hundred yards." Ruby stated matter-of-factly. "You wanna go all the way?"

"Definitely. Shame it's a little too short for challenging rifle work."

"Mmhmm, that's why I usually practice outside."

He cycled the charging handle. "Then why'd we come here?"

"'Cause you're not just shooting today. We're going to practice melee later too!"

"Oh. Sounds, fun."

He took aim and gratefully noted how the aperture sights were pre-adjusted for the hundred yard range. As expected for a weapon of its kind. It became a simple matter of lining up the aperture with the center of the target and squeezing the trigger. The gunshot was louder and more vicious sounding then the pistol, but again this was to be expected of a rifle.

"Bullseye." Ruby reported.

Charlie continued firing the rifle, scoring accurate hits even when he depressed the trigger and emptied the weapon in a fully automatic spray. 'Being a machine is kind of nice.' He thought. 'No breathing or shake to mess my aim, just point and shoot.' Fluidly changing magazines, he dumped the next thirty rounds in a single, well aimed, burst of fire.

"One and a quarter inch groups again! You're pretty good at this!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Thanks Ruby. This metal body keeps my aim nice and stable it seems. I've never shot this good before." Charlie said.

"You have experience?"

"Just a lot of time on ranges like this. The full auto is new to me though; I think I did pretty well on a first attempt."

"Yeah you seem to have a pretty good handle on it. I thinks it's time to move on to melee." She said with a smile that was far too enthusiastic for his liking.

"This is gonna hurt, isn't it?" He said hesitantly.

"I don't know. Do you even have pain sensors?"

"I suppose we're about to find out."

They stowed the rifle and its supplies back into the weapon dispenser and moved back into the training hall. Ruby sauntered off to the overhead door on the other end of the room and waved her Scroll in front of the control panel there. A floor plate near him retracted and raised a rack full of close combat weapons: swords, spears, a few shields, axes, daggers, hammers, clubs, maces, flails, and every other implement under the sun designed to cut, stab, bash, or smash at an arms length away.

At the other corner of the room, the overhead door rolled up into the ceiling and from beyond it clunked in a robot much like himself except painted a field gray and its 'eyes' lit up in a fluorescent blue. It marched over with a mechanical precision and picked up a black hilted, two-handed, double-edged sword with a cross guard. It walked to the center of the other half of the room and stood at attention.

"Well what are you waiting for? Pick a weapon!" Ruby yelled out from the far corner of the hall.

He looked over the selection, trying to find something he could use with confidence. The flails were definitely out, same with the daggers. An axe or club seemed simple enough to use, as with a hammer or spear. But for some reason he found himself gravitating towards the swords.

There was quite a variety. Martial looking longswords, elegant rapiers, dramatically curved sabres, and variants in between but with the first one he picked up, he instantly made his choice.

It was a shorter weapon than most; a thirty-inch, single-edged, straight-bladed affair with a broad, gently curving end. Like a machete, or a medieval falchion. The blade had a matte black finish and a simple knuckle guard. He gave it a few experimental swings and found it to be surprisingly light, although whether that was due to the materials used or the strength of his body he couldn't say.

He took up position opposite of his opponent and readied his weapon.

"Ready?" She queried.

"Ready." He confirmed.

"If you're nervous don't worry about it. These guys are easy."

"Just start it up Ruby."

"Alright... begin!"

As soon as the last syllable escaped her lips, the enemy machine took its sword in a two-handed grip and charged. Without slowing, it brought its weapon down in a savage diagonal slash as soon as it came in range and swiftly followed up with a powerful thrust.

Charlie managed to raise his own sword to block the strike and instinctively sidestepped out of the way. 'Whoa.'

The gray bot slowed and spun around to face him. It re-approached in a slower, more deliberate walk this time; its sword held in front of it in a ready guard.

'Okay, think. How can I kill the bastard easily?' He internally wondered. 'I could try some weir- wait. Aren't I made of metal? What's a sword gonna do?'

Suppressing the urge to facepalm, Charlie brought his left arm out and closed the distance to his opponent with the intent on letting the limb catch the blade. The enemy bot brought its sword up in preparation for a powerful swing. 'Ah screw this!' Charlie chickened out at the last second and jumped back.

His opponent however, fully committed to the strike and swung its sword hard enough to bite into the floor tile. Without thinking, Charlie stepped back in and brought his steel foot down onto the weapon in an attempt to pin it to the ground.

It worked.

His opponent android was unable to pull its weapon away and was in the process of letting go when Charlie took his sword in two hands and decapitated the machine with a horizontal chop.

The head bounced and rolled a few feet and the rest of the body went limp. Charlie stood and relaxed. "Well, that was easier than I thought."

"See, what I tell you?" Ruby walked over and picked up the head. "It's pretty straight forward. And realistic too; most common Grimm are just as dumb and aggressive."

"I doubt they're all this easy though, huh? Otherwise why would you need special people to fight them." Charlie remarked.

"Exactly!" Ruby beamed. "Can you help me carry the body?" She motioned to headless robot.

If he could crack a smile he would have. "You know, out of context that would sound terrible."

She rolled her eyes and smiled. "You know what I mean. Just come on."

Ruby rested the head on the thing's chest and they carried the body off to a corner of the room. "So, what now?" Charlie asked, dropping the machine with a muffled thump.

"You seem decent enough with a sword but you need practice. I also noticed you try to use your arm to block, which makes sense cause you're you know, metal." Ruby said. "But if you want to get the most out of that tactic, you'll need to learn to use your Aura as a shield."

"Okay, how can I do that?"

"I'm gonna have to hit you!" She proclaimed and ran off to the fallen robot's sword. She pulled it out of the floor "Don't freak out. Just focus on blocking and your Aura should come to protect you."

"Alright, sounds easy enough." Charlie stated in confidence.

Ruby simply grinned and backed up a few steps, bringing the sword into a ready position. "Ready?"

"Ready."

She ran two steps forward before she disappeared into a red blur that shot straight towards him at an incredible speed. The only thing he could do was bring an arm up in an effort to defend himself. As the red blur passed him, he felt a force strike his arm and saw a brief flash of green light. A metallic snap was heard followed by a ping bouncing off the wall.

Lowering his arms, he turned to track the red blur which had slowed down enough to make out Ruby's form. The girl tried to decelerate before she ran into the wall but couldn't so she hopped and kicked off the wall instead, flipping several times through the air and landing gracefully; the sword she picked up broken in half and strangely enough, rose petals floated in her wake.

"Holy frik frak Ruby! That was amazing!" Charlie shouted, stunned at what just happened. "You just turned into the Flash or something! What was that?"

"Thank you." Ruby said, not quite understanding the reference. "That, was my Semblance."

"Semblance?" Charlie questioned. "Is that like some kind of superpower?"

"That's one way to look at it." Ruby agreed. "A Semblance is a special ability that's mostly unique to everyone... it's kinda like a more advanced way to use your Aura."

"So yours is speed I'm guessing?"

"Yep."

"Wow, cool! Hey but wait, what's up with the rose petals?"

"I don't know. Apparently I inherited it from my Mom..." She trailed off, eyes becoming distant.

Now, Charlie did not consider himself a master at reading body language but even he could recognize the outward sign of a sore subject. 'Try not to pry then.' He thought. "Well, it matches your name Ruby Rose."

The girl shook off her momentary disillusionment with a literal shake of her head. "Yeah, yeah it does."

"So, does everyone here at Beacon have a cool power?" He asked, attempting to redirect the conversation.

"Most of us do. We're future Huntsmen and Huntresses after all." She said, skipping back into cheerfulness.

"What kind of powers does your team have?"

"Weiss can make these glyph things." Ruby stated "They're like platforms or walls that look like snowflakes."

"What can she do with them?" Charlie asked, sounding intrigued.

"During our initiation, with her help I ran up the face of a cliff."

"Wow."

"Oh, and I was dragging a Nevermore by the neck with my scythe too."

"...Nevermore?"

"A big flying Grimm that kinda looks like a raven. This one was about the size of small plane."

"Damn! You serious?"

"Yeah. Later if you want I have a recording of that moment if you wanna see." Ruby offered.

"I'd like that, cause that sounds badass!" Charlie declared. "What about Blake?"

"Blake's Semblance? She can make clones of herself." She explained. "They can't go very far from her or they'll disappear, but she uses them to make decoys that can take hits for her."

"Strange but cool. And what about Yang?"

"My sister's Semblance has to do with her strength. The more hits she takes the harder she can hit back. And she's already really strong."

"So she's like a living battery?" Charlie said. "She absorbs energy and then throws it back out."

"Basically, yeah. She's scary when she's mad though. Try not to make her angry." Ruby warned.

"I'll keep that in mind." He said. "How does one go about getting a Semblance anyway?"

"You need to discover it by training. Just keep practicing with your Aura and you'll find it eventually." Ruby said.

Charlie hummed "Then what are we standing around for? Let's get back to it."

He ran over and picked up his dropped sword and readied himself. "Unleash the bots Ruby!"

"You sure seem eager!" Ruby laughed.

"You're darn right I am! I want a superpower!" Charlie replied with enthusiasm. "Send more than one this time."

"Alright! How 'bout four?" She suggested.

"Bring it on!"

"Okay..!" Ruby input the appropriate commands into her Scroll for four training androids. Moments later, four gray, humanoid machines marched into the hall. In unison they went to the weapon rack and made their choice: a longsword and shield, a spear, a two-handed axe, and a sabre. The four of them went to the center of the room and stood at the ready.

"Are you sure about this Charlie?" Ruby asked concerned.

"I'll try to be fine. Besides, if I can't take it you can always jump in." Charlie assured.

"Alright. Match begins in five." He clenched the handle of his weapon and stared into the azure optics of his opponents. The seconds ticked by then suddenly, the gray quadruplet burst into motion. The spear bearer sprinted in first with the intent of running him through. Charlie was fully ready for the spear point to impact him and let his Aura protect him, but a strange thought buzzed into his mind.

_Duck and Disable._

His body seemingly moved on its own. On pure instinct he ducked under the oncoming weapon and brought his sword in an upward slash; severing the android's leg at the knee.

_Block and Thrust._

Without skipping a beat, Charlie brought his left arm up to block a strike from the axe wielder who had followed behind the spearman. His forearm caught the weapon on the haft just under the axe head; the limb lit up with a vivid green and the axe was a noticeable inch or so from actually physically contacting him.

Even though the sword he picked was designed for chopping and slashing with its wide end, its point was still very usable for a stab. Charlie plunged the blade into the robot's chest hilt deep, half surprised the blade could even punch through metal. The thing stared at him for a second before its blue optics faded and its body went limp.

He shook his sword out of the ruined unit and in his moment of vulnerability the shield equipped machine dashed in and slammed into him with it. Charlie fell onto his back in a light daze, but still had the awareness to roll out of the way of the incoming sword which shattered the tile it struck. He jumped to his feet and held his sword, which he luckily hadn't dropped, out in a guard position to ward off any more potential attacks.

It was in this exact moment the sabre wielder made its presence known by launching a flurry of cuts and thrusts at his flank. Charlie only just barely managed to deflect a few of them but most of the strikes got through his guard and bit into his Aura. He dashed away in an attempt to keep his distance between his two remaining opponents and get a second to think.

'I can't go after Shield guy. Any time spent trying to get around its guard would leave me open to Sabre, not to mention Shield's sword as well...'

Primary Soft High Damage Target.

'...yes, if I can take Sabre out of the fight I'll be able to outlast Shield.' He thought.

Charlie brought his eyes up and found the Sabre unit advancing steadily toward him. Deciding to abuse his Aura shield to the fullest, he ran shoulder first into the android. It got a few good hits in as it fell to the ground; a few glanced off his Aura but the last definitely left a scratch in his paint. He hacked the offending limb off at the shoulder with a couple of savage strokes.

He straightened up and was once again bashed by the Shield unit. Charlie was prepared for this however and did not fall over this time, instead delivering a swift counter which was deftly blocked by a very obtrusively positioned shield. The gray painted machine snapped its sword forth and delivered a deep cut on his left arm at the elbow joint; the forearm down now dangling by a few wires.

He stared at his disabled limb for a moment then, much more calmly than he thought he was capable of considering the circumstances, kicked his opponent's shield hard enough to knock it out of the way. Charlie's threw a punch aimed at the android's head; the knuckle guard on his sword leaving a sizable dent in its faceplate and smashing an optic. It backed up, trying to regain its bearings. Charlie pressed his advantage however, and sunk the blade of his sword in the top of its head, splitting it down the middle.

The android's remaining optic faded and the whole machine dropped to its knees and face-planted. The sword embedded in its head case dislodging itself upon striking the floor.

"Oh my god! Charlie!" Ruby ran over, concern written on her face. "Are you okay?"

Charlie swung his hanging forearm lightly, snapping the last strand of cable holding it together and sending the appendage to the ground. "Well, it doesn't hurt. So I've got that going for me."

"But you're fine right? You're not about to... shut down or anything?"

"I can't exactly bleed out, so no, I think I'll be fine." He then let out a hearty laugh. "'Tis but a flesh wound!'"

Ruby didn't respond verbally to his admittedly ill timed cultural reference but instead bent down and picked up his fallen limb. "C'mon, let's get this back on you." She wrapped an arm around him and tried to lead him to the door but Charlie didn't budge. "Don't we have to clean this up?" He gestured to all the wrecked machines.

"Oh. Right. But, your arm..?" She waved the severed limb around as emphasis.

"Bah, I still got one good arm and ain't in immediate danger. Let's get this done; I'll feel bad if we leave this mess for the next person."

"But... arm! I'm sure they'll let it slide just this once."

"Ruby, don't be a bad citizen."

"Ugh, but I hate cleaning." She groaned.

"Someone has to do it." Charlie reasoned. "C'mon it won't take long." He left no room for argument by picking up his discarded sword and walking back to the rack and putting it away.

"Fine." Ruby sighed and dropped his arm to free up her hands.

Working together, it only took them roughly ten minutes to restore the area back into a relatively pristine condition. The only things that marred it were the robotic bodies stacked like firewood in the corner and a few shattered tiles.

"Okay," Ruby announced "now we can go." The girl once again scooped up her mechanical companion's arm "I'll need to stop by storage and pick up all the things I need to fix your arm. Just head back up to the dorm and wait for me there."

"Alrighty then," the two of them walked out of the hall together "but I don't have a key or anything."

"Don't worry about it, Weiss should already be there to let you in."

"Ah. Well, I guess I'll see you soon then." He waved his stub in farewell and walked off.

* * *

As it turned out, Weiss was not already in the dorm room. That or he was being ignored. Charlie had knocked several times on the door and had gotten no answer so he resigned himself to waiting for someone to show up and let him in.

He stood there leaning against the door, doing his best to cross his remaining arm with his stub, for several minutes before he heard voices coming around the corner.

"...-aster has us doing an... extra assignment."

"Oh, I see. May I ask what that would be?"

"Yes, our team has to watch over and write a report, which I'll probably end up doing alone, about the robot Ruby has been working on."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

"The thing is, it's not just a robot. Ruby has somehow managed to- and there he is." Weiss Schnee rounded the corner with a binder held to her chest and another girl at her side.

She was taller than Weiss by almost a head and wearing the standard school uniform with black stockings. She had bright red hair done up in a waist length ponytail and a bronze headpiece of sorts peeking out from under her bangs.

'Either the people here have a penchant for hair dye or some odd genetics.' Charlie thought to himself.

The pair drew closer and he noticed her brilliant green eyes... and Weiss's unhappy scowl.

"Oh good grief, what did that dunce do to you?" She said, eyeing his conspicuously missing arm.

"It was my fault, I went a little overboard in the training hall. Ruby ran off to go find some things to fix up the arm." Charlie said with a shrug.

Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose, shut her light blue eyes, and sighed explosively.

"Anywho, who's your friend?" He tipped his head in the redhead's direction.

"I'm Pyrrha Nikos." The redhead introduced simply and clearly.

"Nice to meet you Pyrrha, I'm Charles Flater; just call me Charlie." He stuck his hand out for a shake.

The girl reached for his hand with an amused smile, which turned to a look of bewilderment when they gripped each other and shook.

"That's... huh."

"What is it?" Weiss asked her.

"Nothing, it's just... I thought I felt an Aura."

"That's because I do have one, apparently." Charlie explained.

"What?" Pyrrha gave him a curious look. "How is that possible?"

"As I was about to say, the machine Ruby has been working on has somehow managed to get a soul." Weiss said.

"Hey, you make it sound like I was an accident. I was given a choice to animate this thing." Charlie added.

Pyrrha slowly cocked her head to the side; her mouth opening in shock. "That's... that's incredible!" She laughed and straightened out. "Were you something before becoming this?"

"Yeah, I WAS human. Not from Remnant either but another world called Earth."

She cast widened eyes at Charlie, then at Weiss. "As you can see, I'll have a lot to write about." The white haired girl deadpanned.

"I'm sure." Pyrrha agreed, still looking a bit shocked. "I'll let you two get at that. If you'll excuse me, I have to meet up with the rest of my team soon. If you could tell me more later, I would greatly appreciate it."

"Of course. I'll see you later, Pyrrha."

"Yes, see you Weiss." The redhead waved a Scroll over the door directly opposite of their dorm's lock and disappeared inside.

Weiss motioned for Charlie to move out of the way so she could do the same. "You know, she had far less questions than I would have thought." He stated.

"It's just how she is." Weiss replied "She probably thinks I have everything under control, so she saw no reason to say anything else. Besides, she's from Mistral."

Charlie hummed in agreement, recalling one of the history books he read today mentioning how Mistralian culture was comparatively spiritual to the rest of the world, as he followed Weiss into the room and shut the door behind them. The girl settled onto her bunk and opened the binder she was carrying.

"Alright. Let's get some of this done while it's quiet." She said, flipping through papers.

"Ah, we're doing the report now?"

"I see no reason not to."

"Very well." He pulled up a chair. "What do you wanna know?"

She stopped turning pages and pulled out a pencil and wrote a few words down. "What did you say your name was back there? Charles Flater? Why'd you introduce yourself as Charlie?"

"I'm comfortable with it. It's less formal than my proper name. I guess I used it first with you guys because I just fell back on habit."

"I see." She scribbled a note. "How old you?"

"I just turned twenty about a month ago."

She nodded and jotted down two digits. "Okay, now... tell me about yourself."

"You wanna know my life story?"

Weiss nodded. "We can start there."

"Hmm, where to begin..." Charlie mused.

"The beginning, preferably."

"Alright. If you have a question just stop me." He said to which Weiss nodded in acknowledgement.

"I... was born in northern California, near Stockton on September sixteenth, 1994, to Adalyn and Brysen Flater. I have a sister, four years my senior named Delilah." Charlie said, realizing a second later much of that information was useless without context.

Weiss looked up from her paper. "Is California a kingdom?"

"Err, no. It's a state, which are kinda like districts or provinces, within a nation called the United States of America; U.S.A. or U.S. for short."

"You've mentioned America before."

"It's the continent the country got its name from."

"Okay." She scribbled a note down. "Physical description. What did you look like before this?"

"Fairly plain. Five-eleven, whitish skin, short brown hair and brown eyes."

As Weiss was writing down the information, Charlie continued. "Right, on with the life summary. I had a decent childhood. We weren't rich but we weren't poor either; solid middle class. My mom basically raised my sister and I herself because my dad was in the army so he wasn't around very often. But, they were good days when he was home."

"I had a pretty normal life up until about five years ago. I went to school, had friends, you know, normalcy. But, of course that's when we got the knock at the door..."

Charlie looked up from the floor and back at Weiss, who gestured for him to continue. "It was a man, in military uniform. The official bearer of bad news. 'We express our deepest condolences' and all that. My father was killed in a roadside bombing, they said. Naturally, my mom didn't take that very well. She spiralled into depression and got into a car accident not two months after. She died in the hospital a day later."

"So, I was alone; I didn't have my sister because she was in college down south. Thankfully, my parents planned for this in case anything happened to them. A family friend, basically an uncle, became my legal guardian. He was to take care of me until I came of age and even then, I still lived with him and worked for him up until my untimely... expiration."

'I wonder how they're doing.' He thought. 'Hopefully news of my demise hasn't hit them too hard.'

"That's pretty much it." Charlie concluded. "I didn't get the chance to do anything spectacular with my life. I suppose it ended early though, so my adult life never really began. Anyway, enough talk about me. Can we change the subject?"

"Sure." Weiss nodded in understanding. "You said-" she didn't get to finish her sentence as Ruby chose that exact moment to burst into the room. Both occupants turned to look at the red cloaked girl's dynamic entry.

"I have your arm!" She waved his missing appendage around. "And stuff to reattach it!" She held up a toolbox.

"That's... great Ruby, thank you."

"We'll finish this another time." Weiss closed her binder.

"Oooo what'd I miss?"

"Nothing much. We were just getting started on that report the headmaster wants." Charlie answered.

"Oh yeah. We still have to do that..."

"Don't tell me you forgot already!" Weiss berated.

"No! I just... wasn't thinking about it!"

The white haired girl facepalmed.

"You know, it's rather difficult to do certain gestures with only one arm." Charlie thought out loud. "Lacing your fingers, clapping..."

"Yeah, I know. Your arm. I think I'll need you to be powered off when I reattach it."

"Alright. Ready and waiting."

Ruby jogged up behind him, dropped the toolbox, and flipped open a panel on his back which revealed his power button. She pressed and held it down until the lights all over him dimmed and faded. His now limp body began to slump in the chair but Ruby quickly wrapped an arm around him and sat him up straight.

She opened the toolbox and picked out a screwdriver and started removing the screws holding the rest of his arm on; she would need to take it apart and replace the severed wires. As Ruby worked, she wondered what it was like to have your body turned off.

'He should be fine, right?' She thought. 'It's not like he's dead or anything...'

The realization struck her like a truck. Her hands immediately went back to the power button but there was no response. On the verge of panic, Ruby ran over to the desk in the corner of the room and picked up the AK-130T owner's manual from where she last left it. She skipped to the section detailing repairs and found the oh so helpfully bolded, capitalized, and underlined note: **UNIT WILL NOT START UNLESS ALL CORE SYSTEMS, MANIPULATION SYSTEMS, AND LOCOMOTION SYSTEMS ARE INSTALLED.**

"Oh, okay." She sighed in relief. "I just need to put the arm back on."

"What happened?" Weiss inquired.

"Nothing, nothing. Just got freaked out over nothing." Ruby answered. The girl went back to Charlie, sitting down on the floor nearby and continued stripping the damaged parts down. Her hands moved at a more hurried pace; determined to bring the machine back online as soon as possible.

* * *

The world around him went dark and he expected to be once again confronted by something similar to the timer that greeted him when he went to 'sleep' the night before. What he found in front of him instead however, was the emerald wall with its many gem-like facets. He once again admired the beauty of the pristine surface.

He wasn't sure how long he was looking; keeping time in these... places was understandably difficult. The thing that broke him from his trance however, was a knocking. A steady pattern of knocking. Like someone knocking on a stranger's door; firm but polite and not annoying. It was coming from in front of him.

"But it's not like there's a door... Oh?" Looking just a few degrees down he found a brass doorknob. It looked extremely out of place on the gemstone surface and quite frankly, ridiculous. So, he did the logical thing he thought any person in his position would do. He turned it and pulled. The surface, now door, opened inward riding on invisible hinges and standing just beyond it was... a thing.

The first thing he noticed about it was its iridescence. It changed colors in waves and ripples, shifting through every possibility on the visible spectrum and a few that weren't. How do you describe a color that isn't possible?

The next thing was that it was humanoid in shape. It had legs, arms, head, and a torso all clearly and distinctly visible but featureless. Taking this together, an iridescent, humanoid silhouette stood before him in a doorway to a room (he looked around realizing he was free to do so and confirming, yes he was indeed in a chamber of some kind) seemingly made of green gemstone.

'I'm not on acid, am I?' Came to mind.

The silhouette raised a hand in greeting. "I wish to do you no harm. May I enter?" It said in a surprisingly normal voice. The sound of it could have been either masculine or feminine.

"Uh... Sure?"

Charlie moved aside and allowed the being inside. It stepped purposefully; its gait full of confidence, it seemed sure of itself as it panned its head around and inspected the square chamber that they were in.

"Do you know what this place is, Charles?" It suddenly spoke up, turned and faced him.

"No, I don't." He responded. "Hey! How do know my name!?"

"I have been watching you for a long time now." It said. "And this place is the inside of a Vessel Gem."

"Uh... what?"

"Exquisitely crafted too. The margins for error on these are very small." It said almost to itself before focusing back on him. "Which only makes the implications more disturbing."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"What I'm talking about is the nature of your arrival and current physical existence."

"You... you're not that thing that brought me here are you?" Charlie tried.

"No." It said firmly. "I and those like me would however, like to know who or what did this to you."

"Well. I'm just as lost as you then."

"So it would seem." The being said and made its way back to the doorway. "Nevertheless, I need to speak to you and your new friends. But not now; you are about to be resuscitated. I will visit you all sometime soon. Until then."

With that, the door slammed shut and darkness took his vision.

* * *

Ruby watched in trepidation as Charlie powered up. As soon as the optics flared to life she spoke in rapid-fire. "Oh my goodness Charlie! Are you okay? Your not hurt are you? It's still you in there right? I'm sorry-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Ruby calm down! What's wrong?" Charlie vocalized.

"You're okay!" She cheered. "After I turned you off I had this crazy thought I might have killed you or something."

"What? Oh. Well, don't worry I was fine."

"Were you still aware while you were off?" Weiss asked, still sitting on her bunk.

Charlie turned his head to face her. "Yeah, I was in this weird room made of green gemstone or crystal." He turned back and looked at Ruby. "Why am I on the floor?"

"Uh... it was easier to work on you laying on your back?" She said. In reality she had accidentally pushed him out of his chair when she was reattaching the arm.

"Ah." He accepted that and clambered onto his feet. "When I was in that green room... I wasn't alone."

"There was someone else with you?" Ruby asked.

"There was something else with me. I... don't know what it was. But, it said it needed to talk to us."

"Did it say why? Or when?" Weiss questioned.

"It didn't give a reason." Charlie crossed his arms. "Or a time. It only said 'sometime soon', so who knows when that is."

Ruby and Weiss looked at each other. "Didn't you say something gave you the chance to be put in this robot?" Weiss said.

"Yeah I did, and I already asked the thing I just saw about that. It wasn't the one that did this to me." Charlie answered. "In fact, I think it was just as interested in finding out how this happened as we are."

The statement hung in the air for a moment before Weiss wordlessly reopened her binder and wrote down a note. Charlie was slightly curious at what she could have possibly written down but decided not to raise the issue.

'Just what was that thing?' He contemplated internally. The questions were accumulating and he was fresh out of concrete answers. He could always speculate, but blind guessing tended to build unnecessary fear and paranoia. 'No use worrying about it now. Whatever it was, well, one thing at a time...'

'Yes, one thing at a time.'

* * *

**Author's Note: Hello, yes I am back. No, chapter three is not done. I originally wanted to upload both chapters together but after some thought and changes in the draft I changed my mind. First, a few things: I base Yang's comment about Aura on RWBY Volume 1 Episode 6 namely how Jaune was clueless about it. I believe it is safe to assume if a descendant of someone who fought in the War didn't know about Aura then it is likely many others also wouldn't. I liken it to the Force in Star Wars if that helps you understand my reasoning. The comment near the end of the chapter about Pyrrha, Mistral and its culture I based solely on Pyrrha's monologue from the same episode. Thinking about the implications gave me a few ideas. We'll see.**

**The .264 caliber and the "short, fat, cartridges" remark are a reference to the real 6.5mm Grendel **

**Also, does anyone know if Dust is found naturally as powder? I get the feeling it's mined as a crystal only but I could be wrong.**

**I worked on this chapter over the course of over two months on a smartphone. Please don't expect the next update to come anytime soon.**

**Comments, criticism, and suggestions are always welcome. Seriously though, suggestions would be nice. I need some ideas for 'fluffy' moments.**


	3. Chapter 3

Ozpin sat alone in his office. A flat, holographic display hovered over his desk displaying the feed of one of many, many cameras scattered throughout Beacon and its surrounding grounds. This one in particular was situated in the Emerald Forest, which bordered the Academy to the east.

The forest was often used as a location for live-fire training for his students. Today, several freshman teams had been assigned a simple fetch mission: locate a marked luggage trunk in their assigned sector and bring it back to a designated pickup point before sunset. The containers had been launched into the forest via pneumatic cannon; their trajectories painstakingly calculated and plotted.

The exercise was simple enough. The only complication was the forest's native population of Grimm. The quality of the average Beacon student however, ensured that the young and comparatively soft creatures that inhabited the forest only presented a minor obstacle.

On the screen, Ozpin watched as a bush rustled and out of it strode a black figure; an eye slit on its face plate and various points on its body glowing an electric green. Its torso was wrapped up in a load bearing vest carrying a quantity of spare magazines for the rifle it held loosely in its right hand.

Ah, yes. Charlie Flater. The machine with a soul. Built by one of his most promising new students, Ruby Rose. The young girl he had invited into his school after witnessing her almost single-handedly thwart an attempted store robbery. 'First that now this.' Ozpin mused. He had a feeling that girl was going to become a magnet for trouble. Or, more likely, she would go out and find trouble herself. Which wasn't necessarily a bad trait for a future Huntress.

[Help me!] [MEDIC!] [GET IT OFF GET IT OFF!] [Help me!] [ohmygodohmygodOHMYGODOHMYGOD!] [HELP ME!]

He shook his head and took a drink from his coffee mug. It was like he could still hear the voices. That was partly the reason he was standing in his office the night Ruby and Weiss brought that android to him.

Ozpin had been filling out paperwork in one of the administrative building's lounges alone. He didn't always like to work in his office high up in the tower; sometimes working away from all those spinning gears and being closer to the people he labored for was desirable or even convenient. He had heard a door open behind him but he paid it no mind. His title as the Headmaster of Beacon had an unfortunate side effect of people giving him a wide berth.

He looked up from his work and was about to reach for his ever present cup of coffee when he noticed whoever had entered the room had not avoided him.

Sitting across from him was another man. He wore an alabaster, two piece suit and pork pie hat. With a brown complexion and dark eyes, he stared intently at Ozpin.

Ozpin had to admit, at least to himself, he hadn't been caught off guard like this in a long time; the heightened perception granted by a mastery of Aura use made sneaking up on him a nearly impossible task. He hadn't even heard the chair move.

"...Yes?" He said, drawing out the 's' to convey his slight irritation.

"Greetings, Ozpin." The white suited man said. "I have a task for you, if you're willing to accept it."

An odd way to open the conversation. Why was this man requesting him for a mission personally? There were official channels to request the aid of a Huntsman after all. But, with the way he sneaked up on him this man must be a person of considerable skill in his own right. "I assume you have a reason for not filing an official request?"

"Correct. This is for your ears only."

Ozpin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "What do you need?"

"I can tell what your thinking. This won't be a frivolous request; you and you alone are suited for this task." The suit paused almost imperceptibly. "It is rare to find a righteous man in a position of power. This is good, for billions of lives hang in the balance."

Billions of lives? "Was that a hyperbole? There aren't that many people on Remnant today."

"I never said all the lives at stake were on Remnant."

Ozpin reached for his coffee unconsciously and took a drink. "Who are you?" He asked.

"Who I am is not important. What is important is the task I have for you." The white suited man said. "I have prepared someone. It was inhumane but it had to be done. I have made arrangements for a human soul to occupy a device it was never meant to. This device will be plugged into an android rebuilt by one of your students."

"What I need you to do is to watch him. I cannot watch him personally; there are those who would call my existence abomination and actively seek my destruction. Please, allow him to stay here. I know there are certain groups that would kill to take possession of him and having the protection of some of the best this world has to offer would largely discourage any attempts. Not that I'm leaving him defenseless mind you, on the contrary due to his... restructuring, his Aura should be hyperactive and the vessels he will inhabit will ensure that he will be able to overcome any trouble that may find him."

Ozpin had questions. "Why is this person so important?" He voiced one of many.

"He... is an instrument of fate. A victim of happenstance and uniquely suited for the job I have for him." The suited man said, looking him in the eye.

"And what job would that be?"

The man grimaced "I'm afraid I cannot tell you that. I may trust you with this much, but not with that."

Ozpin nodded. "Compartmentalization is important."

"I'm glad you understand."

Ozpin took a sip from his mug with a thoughtful look. "So, allow me to clarify. You want me to watch over a person whose soul you claim to have taken and placed into a device which you predict a student of mine will acquire and use in a machine of their own construction. For how long did you need me to do this?" He finished dryly.

"I have made arrangements to remove him from your care when the time is right."

"I see." Ozpin sighed. "Okay, look. I think I've played along long enough. Do you have evidence that I should believe any of this as something other than delusions?"

The white suited man hesitated. "You... are a wise man, which is why I am trusting you with this. Unfortunately, the only thing I can offer you to prove my case is... unpleasant."

"I am an experienced Huntsman; I have seen many unpleasant things."

"Perhaps. But have you ever seen a world die?"

Ozpin narrowed his eyes at this. "What do you mean?"

"I speak of the future." The other man stated. "Give me your hand and I can show you."

He looked serious. Ozpin tried his best to read the man sitting in front of him and couldn't find any ill will. He was completely earnest in his request. 'Either this is an elaborate lie or this man is not right in the head.' Ozpin didn't feel this was a lie and this man seemed to have his mental faculties intact.

'It could be the truth.'

With that thought in mind Ozpin reached out and grasped the man's hand. If push came to shove, he was confident he could defend himself.

"Brace yourself." Was all the man said before Ozpin was bombarded by a cacophony of light, sound, and emotion.

Fire. Everything was on fire. Great cities, cities he had never seen before, were being laid to ruin. Panicked crowds of people ran through the streets; fleeing a teeming mass of black, white, and glowing red. They came from the sky like rain, skewering the people they fell upon. With beating wings they swarmed around massive, floating, monsters; like flying whales of gargantuan proportions that rained down fire upon the earth.

Earth.

They came upon the surface on skittering limbs in grotesque forms. Many he was familiar with and some he was not. They snapped and tore at the people. Cutting them to ribbons. But they were not unopposed.

Men in mottled uniforms, clutching their black rifles, fired upon the teeming horde from behind barricades, from inside buildings, from the rooftops. Large armored vehicles supported their stand; providing cover and adding to the fray with their massive guns.

A jet aircraft flew down the length of a street with its main cannon buzzing all the way.

He saw a man shouting into a radio set, until his head disappeared into a bloody mist. From out of the horde of Grimm creatures came bipedal figures. They were like a mockery of the human form; resembling a warrior clad in bone white armor plates with red stripes painted seemingly stylistically on their 'masks'. Most of them held some sort of long arm that spat bolts of light but many ran forward with ivory swords; slaughtering the defenders.

As the monsters routed the humans, suddenly the whole city was bathed in light then completely consumed by fire. A cloud like a mushroom the size of a mountain stood over the now destroyed city. In the distance he saw flashes of light and wherever they occurred another mushroom-shaped cloud rose in its place.

The scene cut and changed to something like a slide show in fast forward: burning flags, buildings crumbling, people being strangled, impaled, violated, by all manner of slithering beasts.

There were snips of sound and dialogue too: explosions, shouts for medical attention, the proverbial roar of gunfire, the literal roar of monsters, people arguing, people screaming. Everything swirled together into one incoherent sound that slowly faded out.

It was dark now. The sky blotted out by ash which fell down like snow and buried the fields of bloodied bones and burned out buildings. The wind howled and kicked up dust storms that tore down feeble, leafless trees.

"You can prevent this." As suddenly as the vision began so did it end. Ozpin found himself back in the lounge with the man in the white suit. He clutched his chest; his heart was beating like an insane drummer and he was nearly hyperventilating.

"Just... what... was that?" He said between ragged breaths.

"The end." The white suited man simply said. "That wasn't everything. A similar fate awaits Remnant but I did not show you that. I could tell what I showed was disturbing you."

Ozpin was going to deny it but he couldn't bring himself to do it for it was the truth. It was like he could feel their pain. It was muted but it built up; the cries for mother, the losses felt for those departed, the pain of saying goodbye one last time. The rage of battle. The hate for an enemy they didn't understand. The contempt they felt because they didn't want to.

And then there was the screaming. He did his best to shut that out of his mind.

"I need you to watch over him for awhile. He will be instrumental in easing the coming pain. Both here and there. Will you do it?"

Ozpin caught his breath and tried to force his heart to calm down. He was about to take a drink from his coffee but realized the caffeine in it would probably just exacerbate the problem. Instead, he rested his head on a shaking hand. "If I agree, what does it entail?"

"Nothing much on your part. Just a promise to keep him away from any unsavory groups. In fact, to simplify it further I would suggest leaving him in the custody of the student who is building his vessel. She's a simple, honest soul and it would help keep his existence away from prying eyes."

He understood the logic the other man was getting at. It would be unusual, but not entirely strange for a student to have an android as a 'weapon'. He could be cataloged as a piece of equipment to help build a cover.

"I must be going now, it is... not safe for me to remain in one place for long." The white suited man stood up from his chair. "If you have any questions, now would be the time."

"I haven't said I agreed yet." Ozpin quipped.

"Don't give me that. We both know after what you saw, your morals will not let you say no."

"Fine." He returned, disconcerted by the other man's correct assumption. "Do you have an estimated time your... VIP will arrive?"

"Within the next few days; you'll know when he's here. The student will most likely bring him to you for direction." The man began walking towards the door. "Let him learn how to fight alongside your students. I know he'll need it; it'll awaken a love for life he holds in his heart but hasn't yet embraced. With his now synthetic physical nature he should be a fast learner."

"One more thing to know: my subject, his name is Charles or Charlie Flater from the world called Earth. It... would be best if this encounter is never spoken of; to him or anyone else. This was for your ears only as I said." The man opened the door and was about to cross its threshold when Ozpin stopped him. "Wait." He said. "I never got your name."

The white suited and capped man turned back to him and gave him a pained smile. "I am only a small piece I... have no need for a name, Ozpin."

With that he left the room and shut the door behind him. Ozpin ran and reopened the door to follow him but the straight corridor ahead was empty. The man was gone without a trace.

For the next several nights Ozpin isolated himself in his office to mull over everything that happened that evening. Most importantly, he spent his time trying to forget the images that had been burned into his mind and attempting to bury the feelings they came with. Standing in his tower, he looked out onto the world around him to try and clear his mind. The things that man showed him were the nightmares of Huntsmen everywhere. A complete worst case scenario; the fall of civilization as they knew it.

More worrying to him however, was the idea that those images did not depict anywhere on Remnant but on another world. A world, if that remark about billions of lives was true, where the human race was more prolific by an order of magnitude. 'A similar fate awaits Remnant.' The man had said.

He would never let it happen. As long as he drew breath, Ozpin had sworn to uphold the peace and protect the people. It wasn't a massive jump in logic to extend that oath to another branch of mankind. If all he had to do was watch a robot to save both this world and another, so be it.

It was by this reasoning he remained unnervingly calm when Ruby and Weiss brought Charlie to him. It was by this reasoning he approved of Ruby taking responsibility of him. It was by this reasoning the lie he told Weiss rolled so easily off his tongue; there were most definitely more qualified institutions to study this. Atlas's rarely publicized, but influential in its circle, Artificial Intelligence Laboratory would be a prime candidate if a more thorough study was desired.

By every right he should have informed someone outside the school of the machine's true nature; he had several trusted confidants but many of them had overly ambitious aims. So, for now he decided to keep this quiet and only tell his closest staff members when the need arose. He knew that Charlie's existence would not stay secret forever though, but he knew better than to try and hide it. Let the information seep out naturally; he'd deal with any problems on a case by case basis.

For now he was content to sit and watch. Ozpin had watched the security footage from the Freshman Training Hall when Ruby had been there. He had noticed Charlie's Aura flare brightly to protect him and he had apparently used it to strengthen the sword he had used as evidenced by the one training unit he had run through. He had also reviewed the marksmanship scores he had achieved; they were excellent. Not up to the superhuman levels of precision he had seen veteran Huntsmen were capable of, but well beyond tolerable combat accuracy.

These abilities would serve him well. When he was notified that the freshman teams had set out into the forest that morning, the instructor on duty had informed him that one of the teams were bringing along a robot; citing it as being out of the ordinary. The instructor had allowed it though, as part of the reason they held these exercises at all was so students could experiment with their methods.

Ozpin paid close attention to the screen in front of him. He would see if Charlie had what it took.

* * *

He has been pushing through underbrush for almost two hours now; unusually calm considering that the forest they were prowling through was apparently filled with monsters.

That calm was broken when he was alerted by a rustling in the bushes in front of him. Charlie stopped walking and leveled the rifle Ruby has given him; the same one he had used on the range yesterday. Out of the bushes came a hulking mass of black and bony white. It resembled a bear; an Ursa, he recalled from the Grimmoire he had read earlier that morning. The Grimm creature stopped moving and gave him a long, hard look. It cocked its head to the side; seemingly confused. Charlie trained his rifle onto its head.

After a moment it made up it's mind and snarled; bunching up its hind legs in preparation for a leap.

Three rapid double-taps through its head put an end to that. It wasn't his first kill today and it certainly wouldn't be his last.

A second later, a red blur materialized to his right. He turned and faced the new contact but relaxed when he realized it was just Ruby; giant scythe at the ready. The girl looked at the slain Grimm, nodded and lowered her weapon.

"Good job." she said, approaching him in a leisurely walk.

"I try." Charlie said simply and continued the march forward.

They walked with each other for several minutes before Ruby peeled off and disappeared into the forest. Her and the others had spread out to cover more ground in the search for the box they were looking for. They hadn't gone far though as gunfire would erupt every so often nearby and he would occasionally catch a glimpse of white to his left, of red in front of him, and of yellow to his right.

He wondered why they chose to wear such bright colors. Of course, he already knew the answer. According to the books, Remnant's Great War had a profound effect on the culture of this world. One of the most visible was the high value placed on self-expression. Art and individuality were championed by the Huntsmen and Huntresses and it showed in their style of clothing; Weiss had gone into the forest wearing a dress. A DRESS! Ruby as well! The same clothes they were wearing when he met them in fact. When he questioned this they had insisted they were 'combat skirts'. Whatever.

He continued walking along, sweeping his gun around in regular intervals. It was quiet again and his mind wandered back to the Grimm he had just killed and the few others he had run into today. The first one he had laid eyes upon was something referred to as a Beowolf. A tall but hunched over, muscular, bipedal, wolf-like creature with bony protrusions covering its arms and its face armored in what could be called a bone 'mask'. When he gazed upon it, the monster had stared right back at him in what looked like curiosity. However, when Charlie raised his weapon in its direction it grew agitated and started sprinting towards him. He had no explanation, but when he looked upon the creature he felt uneasy; like it was emanating a sickening sense of emptiness.

He dropped it in a singe, contemptuous head shot. A creature like this deserved nothing better.

Thinking on that feeling, Charlie unconsciously patted the sword sheathed at his hip. Like the rifle, it was the same one he had used in the training hall the previous day. Before they had set out that morning, Ruby had retrieved the rifle, the sword, a vest covered in pockets and magazine pouches, and a black backpack with the Beacon logo emblazoned on it for him to use on this excursion. She had mentioned this was all temporary and that they would have to arrange something more permanent later.

A few minutes of walking forward later, he came upon a sandy clearing that had a few small boulders scattered around it. Looking to his left he saw Weiss enter the clearing; to his right Blake and Yang appeared from the undergrowth. 'At least they're not wearing skirts.' Charlie thought snidely to himself. Indeed, Blake and Yang's outfits were comparatively more practical if a bit showy. Blake wore a black, coat-tailed vest with a white, sleeveless short shirt underneath. She had a single, detached black sleeve on her left arm and black ribbons wrapped around both of her forearms. White shorts and black leggings that faded to purple near her black, low-heeled boots covered her legs. She still had her ever present black bow on her head and a thin black scarf wrapped around her neck.

Yang, who strolled casually behind Blake and not looking at all like she was walking through a dark forest filled with monster, had decided to face the day wearing a brown vest with puffy cap sleeves, a yellow, low-cut, crop top, a brown leather belt with a pouch and strips of the material hanging fashionably behind her and at her hips. On her wrists were a pair of golden bracelets and over her black short shorts and under the belt was an asymmetric, white, underskirt. 'Well, not a real skirt.' Covering her feet were a pair of brown, leather, knee-high boots and orange socks; one stretched over her left knee and the other folded up. A gray bandanna was tied around her left leg just under the knee and she had an orange scarf wrapped around her neck.

Ruby was already there in the clearing sitting on one of the rocks. The four of them converged on the red cloaked girl. "Why have we stopped?" he asked her.

"I was waiting for you guys. I'm hungry."

"Oh. Did you pack a lunch?"

"Yep. Why did you think I handed you that backpack?"

"Huh?" Charlie rested his rifle against a nearby boulder and unshouldered the backpack. He hadn't even checked it's contents when Ruby had given it to him now that he thought about it. Unzipping it, he found four brown bags. "Sack lunches?"

"Yeah. You didn't think we'd go out here with nothing, did you?"

Now that she mentioned it, he hadn't seen any of the girls eat today. Except Yang who had been gnawing on a granola bar before they entered the forest. "No. Can't fight on an empty stomach after all." He said and distributed the bags to the four young women.

"Let's see here... water, apple and..." Ruby said while rummaging through her bag. "Aha! Ham and cheese sandwich! What'd you get Yang?"

"Hmm? Oh, Ham and cheese. Got a banana though. What about you Blake?"

"Chicken sandwich and an apple. Weiss?"

Weiss was carefully unfolding the foil wrapping on her lunch. "I got an orange and... tuna. I got a tuna sandwich. " She sighed.

"Trade you." Blake offered

"Deal." Weiss did not hesitate for a second and tossed her bag to Blake who nimbly caught the flying object and tossed her's to Weiss who likewise caught it.

Charlie stood there awkwardly for a moment before picking his weapon back up and leaning against a boulder. "When did you find the time for this?" He asked.

"We didn't. The cafeteria preps lunches for students going into the forest."

"Oh. That makes sense." He relented and stared out into the forest. He couldn't exactly eat with them so he occupied himself by keeping watch. Listening carefully, Charlie could here faint cracks and pops in the distance; likely the other students. Other than that distant sound of battle, it was a comfortable silence in the sandy clearing. "So, how goes it?" He never liked silence in groups of people.

"Eh, I've been better." Yang said before scarfing down the remains of her sandwich and peeling the banana. "Haven't run into anything too terrible yet."

"Mmmm, yeah. You know, for a forest full of monsters we've run into far fewer than I thought we would've."

"Only because they're spreading out to chase after everyone. We'll run into a big group sooner or later."

"I guess. That'll be a real test on my mettle though. Hopefully we'll be fine."

Yang stopped mid-bite and looked at Charlie with a wry grin. "Heh, test your metal."

He paused and after it sunk in he facepalmed. "Har, har. Very funny." Charlie deadpanned.

"You could say it was very punny!" Yang's grin only grew larger until a thrown apple hit her on the head. "Hey!"

"Boo!" Ruby hollered and looked at Charlie with pleading eyes. "Please, just quit while your ahead!" Yang dusted sand off the apple and winged it back at Ruby who caught it with her gut. "OOF!"

"HA HA!" Yang hooted and returned to eating her banana. Ruby looked as if she were about to retaliate when Weiss intervened. "Are you seriously going to start out here?" Ruby's face expression changed as her mind cycled through ready retorts before she simply sighed and picked up her apple. She poured a measure of water from her bottle onto the fruit and polished it's skin with her cloak, muttering all the way.

Charlie watched the back and forth with amusement. "Are they always like this?" He directed to Blake who merely nodded. He could relate somewhat; he and his sister used to have a close relationship with all the sibling rivalry and love that came with it. He briefly wondered how she was doing.

'No, best not to dwell on that.' Instead, he looked between Ruby and Yang. Ruby had said they were sisters but he could hardly see a resemblance. Ruby, with her short, red-tinted, black hair and silver eyes and Yang, with her long, messy, blonde hair and- 'What color are her eyes?' He focused on the girl's face and the image magnified. 'Ah. Lilac. They don't look related. Well, I mean there's kind of a likeness in the face but other than that- HOLY CRAP I CAN ZOOM!?' Indeed, in the top left of his vision a '4x' had appeared. 'Whoa.' He tried focusing on a bush at a distant end of the clearing and the number increased to '16x'. He tried looking up at a faraway cloud but the magnification did not seem to go further than that.

"RUBY!" He turned to the girl who looked up from nibbling on her apple. "What is it?"

"I can zoom!"

"Huh?" She said with a quirked eyebrow.

"My vision can magnify." He clarified.

"Oh." She said then realized "Oh! That's pretty cool!"

"How'd you find out you can do that?" He turned to face Blake, whose amber eye filled his view.

"I was trying to find out what color Yang's eyes are." He answered truthfully.

"Why?" Yang questioned him.

"I was trying to figure out how related you and Ruby look. You're sisters right? 'Cause, you hardly look it."

"Half-sisters. I am a Xiao Long, after all. I still love my baby sister though!" She declared. Ruby huffed and continued working on her apple.

"Oh, only half. That would explain a lot. Wait, your name is Yang Xiao Long?"

"Yeah. What of it?"

"Nothing. It just sounds a little strange is all." It sounded Chinese. Which was strange considering he was on another planet. But then again why was everyone speaking English? He would need to look into this later because this sounded like a serious etymological problem.

Thankfully, Yang simply shrugged it off and took a drink from her water bottle. "Meh, not the first time I've heard that."

Charlie turned back to looking back out into the forest. 'Now, how do I zoom out?'. It didn't take long for him to figure that out. All he had to do was will it back to normal. Imagining himself pinching a screen together like how you would zoom out on a touch screen device seemed to help. After returning his sight to normal, he scanned the tree line in an effort to remain busy. He idly rubbed the receiver of his weapon with his fingertips, brushing over a strange texture. He turned the rifle over to inspect it and found some engraved text which read: SCHNEE GUN WORKS TYPE 67 CALIBER .264 NO. B344.1119 MADE IN ATLAS.

There was that name again. Schnee. He recalled seeing that name in a textbook on Dust he had perused last night too: The Schnee Dust Company. 'Schnee Dust, Schnee Gun...'

'Weiss Schnee.'

That couldn't be a coincidence. He had to ask.

"Hey Weiss."

"Yes?" The girl responded.

"My gun was made by Schnee Gun Works, that Dust textbook I read mentioned a company called the Schnee Dust Company. Any relation?"

The white haired girl breathed out a long, drawn out sigh but it was Blake who answered the question. "Weiss Schnee, Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company."

"There's a reason I said Weiss'd be the best person to explain Dust." Yang called out. "Ice Queen is old money." This earned a disgruntled "Hey!" from Weiss.

"An Heiress huh? Cool. I've never met an aristocrat before." Charlie said.

"Thank you, I suppose." She affirmed, her chest slightly puffing up in pride.

"What's an aristocrat?" Ruby whispered to Blake who replied "An archaic term for nobleman." "Ooooh" The red cloaked girl nodded in understanding.

"Don't think this changes anything though. I'm still treating you like a normal person."

Weiss deflated. "Of course." She bit off dryly. "I'd rather be judged by my personal achievements than by my name anyway."

"Woohoo! Another one on the peasant's team!" Yang cheered sarcastically. They all had a laugh at Weiss's expense, who held her dignity marvelously well; she simply stuck her nose up and took a bite of her sandwich.

Blake suddenly stopped laughing and got serious. "We've got company." She reached over her shoulder and pulled a terrifically rectangular sword from its place on her back; he spotted a trigger guard built into the hilt. Everyone else sobered up and turned to the direction Blake was facing.

A lone Beowolf had meandered into their sandy clearing. Words did not need to be said. Where there is one Beowolf, there are more; the Grimmoire made this clear. This one probably belonged to the same pack as the other he had encountered today. A few more appeared. At first a mere smattering. Then a half-dozen. A baker's dozen. A torrent of shadows flowing out of the dark forest.

"I count twenty-seven." He announced levelly.

"Easy." Yang cracked her knuckles with a cocky grin. Her bracelets expanded over her forearms, clicking and unfolding into a pair of gauntlets. She pumped her fists with an audible, metallic racking sound. Ah. They were guns too.

Ruby ran forward, deploying her scythe and anchoring the blade into the ground; cycling the bolt and chambering a round. With barely a second's hesitation she fired; a Beowolf down range being literally cut in half. Weiss stepped up taking her blade, a rapier with an interesting looking revolver mechanism wherein each chamber was a different color was forged into the guard, in hand. She flourished the sword gracefully in a Grimm's direction, spinning the cylinder until the red chamber aligned with the spine of the blade. A whip of fire flicked off the weapon, zooming forward until it struck its target. The Beowolf it struck was immolated on impact; howling in agony as it was burned alive.

Blake walked purposefully into position, casually pulling apart her weapon revealing the large rectangular piece to be an edged scabbard concealing a sword whose overall style reminded him of a katana. She manipulated the hilt in some way, causing the blade to bend at a ninety-degree angle at its base and folding up, showing the weapon's additional function: a handgun. It was blocky, but relatively compact; almost Glock-like really. She squeezed the trigger rapidly, peppering her target in a semi-automatic barrage. Yang moved into place on the impromptu firing line and brought her arms up like a boxer. She seemingly threw a punch into empty air but a flare-like projectile burned out of the front of her gauntlet; accelerating and exploding on contact, knocking over an unlucky Beowolf.

Charlie himself leapt onto a nearby boulder and sighted the nearest monster, depressing the trigger for a decuple of shots that rendered its neck on up into so much shattered bone and mush.

The Beowolves seemed to finally get their act together and advanced upon the five of them. A number of them moved around in an attempt to encircle them, but the majority stayed together in a pack and charged straight ahead. Weiss spun the cylinder of her rapier onto a new setting and tucked the weapon close to her body. She gestured with her right hand and a white, spinning, circular symbol stylized like a snowflake appeared under her feet. She tensed her legs and suddenly took off like a bolt of white lightning aimed for the center of the incoming pack. The white streak bowled through the slavering mob, mounds of ice forming at her flanks as she passed; freezing a few 'wolves in place. Charlie took the time to finish the frozen Grimm that had their heads still facing his direction, cracking through their skull plates with efficiently aimed fire.

The mass that remained mostly unharmed turned around to bunch up on Weiss, that is until Ruby arrived. The red-cloaked girl pulled her scythe out of the ground and turned it around. With a running start she fired her massive weapon and disappeared into a red blur and leaving rose petals in her wake. In the blink of an eye (a term that did not apply to him anymore, ironically enough) Ruby closed the distance and cut down four Beowolves like wheat in a harvest, stopping on a fifth with both boots firmly planted in its face. Upon landing, she twirled her scythe around and bisected a sixth before finally dropping the tip of her scythe's blade into the chest of the fifth Beowolf which let out a gurgled howl before dying.

On the flanks, Blake and Yang had split off to eliminate the threat. To Charlie's right Yang could be seen throwing a flurry of punches into the abdomen of an unfortunate Grimm; each punch accompanied by a flash of light and a crackle. The girl threw an uppercut with her left fist and kicked the creature in the side of the knee before smashing its face in with a powerful right hook. She spun on her heel and without losing momentum delivered a punch into the side of an approaching Beowolf's face.

On the side opposite of Yang's scrap, Blake clashed with a small pack of 'wolves. Using her scabbard as a weapon, she fought with a flowing, dual-wielding style; using the scabbard to block and chop and seamlessly changing her sword to a gun and back again. The black-haired girl delivered a thrust into the abdomen of a Grimm, leaving her vulnerable to a Beowolf that was creeping up behind her. Charlie leveled his rifle at the creature but it was too late. The Grimm was upon her.

In horror he watched the monster swipe viciously at her; it's claws tearing into the girl, her body dissolving into a shadowy mist.

What?

Striking from above, Blake came down from above the offending Beowolf. She hooked her left arm around its neck and pressed her weapon in pistol form against the back of its head and fired. Repeatedly. The creature forcefully emptied its brain-case through a new set of holes in its face. While Blake was brutalizing her target, Charlie covered her with precise rifle-fire; dropping a Beowolf with a burst in its upper chest and neck. He switched targets and squeezed off a burst that brought another creature to its knees before his rifle clicked empty. He thumbed the magazine release, causing the mag to fall from its place and fishing a spare one from a vest pocket. For the few seconds he was reloading, Blake wheeled around and smoothly decapitated the wounded Beowolf. She glanced in Charlie's direction, noticing his weapon pointed at the now dead Grimm, and nodded in appreciation. The girl sprinted off to aid Yang in mopping up the remaining Grimm on her end of the clearing.

Turning back to Ruby and Weiss, he saw the white-clad girl jam her rapier into the chest of a Beowolf while Ruby smashed the blunt end of her scythe into another. The red-cloaked girl spun her weapon backward and fired, using the recoil of the gun built into it to aid her forward motion and plunging the spear-pointed end of the haft into the Beowolf's abdomen. She flew forward, Grimm still impaled on her scythe, and abruptly arrested her velocity by ramming into a tree.

Meanwhile, Yang was flying around like an action hero; pulverizing bony plate and dark flesh alike in a whirlwind of augmented hand to hand combat. Blake jumped in to assist the blonde, stopping just short of the brawl and tossing her folded sword-gun into the mix. She held onto it by a length of cable or ribbon, apparently the same ribbon she had wrapped around her arms. The black-haired girl gave the airborne weapon a little tug, triggering its firearm component and changing its direction midair. She expertly maneuvered it so that the folded blade slashed at Beowolves it passed until it sunk into the back of another's neck. As the Grimm were suitably distracted, Yang annihilated them; alternating between punching and firing her gauntlets at range. At some point her right weapon apparently ran out of ammunition so while still in the motion of delivering a punch, she pulled a belt of red shells out of the pouch on her hip and sent them into the air. In an incredible display of spatial awareness, she gut punched the creature in front of her and raised her right hand and caught the belt of ammunition directly on her empty gauntlet. The ammo belt wrapped around her wrist and a golden plate retracted into place. The girl pumped her arm, feeding her weapon with a fresh charge and throwing an explosive throat punch.

This left a single Beowolf between Yang and Blake. Before either of them could move to destroy the creature, Charlie fired off a prolonged burst and it fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Both girls looked at him on his perch; Yang with a dissatisfied expression which she quickly shrugged off and Blake with a simple nod of acknowledgement.

Charlie leapt off his position and walked towards Ruby and Weiss's location; Blake and Yang doing the same. Ruby had at some point in the last minute dislodged her scythe from the remains of the Beowolf she had took off with. She was standing, scythe compacted into its gun form and buttstock extended, in front of the lone Beowolf that had survived up to this point encased in a sheet of ice. It snapped madly at the girl with its jaws. Ruby for her part looked mostly serene as she emotionlessly leveled her gun at the thing and worked the bolt. The girl blinked once before squeezing the trigger and blowing the creature's head off; splintering the ice around it and showering the area with fragments.

"That was pretty hardcore, Ruby." Charlie said as he stopped just behind the girl. The red and black dressed girl merely nodded and compressed her weapon further and returned it to its carrying straps on her lower back. "Yeah, I guess so." She mumbled and trudged back to their temporary resting place. She picked up her water bottle from where she left it and took a sip. "I didn't even finish eating" Ruby murmured. "We should get moving."

The other three girls complied, securing whatever leftover food they may have had back into the brown bags. Charlie picked up the backpack from where he set it down and walked around collecting the bags. Re-shouldering the backpack and picking up his dropped magazine he gave his rifle a once-over before nodding in satisfaction and gesturing his readiness to the group.

"Alright, let's go find this box."

* * *

Slumber.

It had chosen this forest as a resting place. It was a quiet spot surrounded by the soulless. Occasionally, They would draw close to its resting place; they who bore their souls as a shield. When it had first witnessed this peculiar phenomenon, it had been intrigued. They were fleshlings; beings contained in cages of dirt and meat. But they had tapped into their immortal souls, using its power to manipulate the material plane. Most prominently as a shield and it had learned later, as a weapon.

It had been forced onto this world. It had been thrown out and banished into the void. That cold, empty yet suffocating nothingness was to be Its tomb for all eternity. But, there was a light of hope. It had drifted to a fracture; a gateway back onto the material plane. There was no way to know for sure where It would find itself if it crossed through but It had to try. It was better to have something than absolutely nothing.

After crossing through, It had found itself on a world very similar to the one it had been thrown off of. A lush, watery, life-bearing world full of great expanses of flora. There were fauna too. Animals of nearly the exact types and species as the other world. And, most interestingly, there were Humans. This was an unexpected surprise. They were far fewer in number than in the other world; their populations preyed upon by creatures of darkness. It had found these monsters to be fascinating. They were empty vessels with an irrational obsession with the consumption of humans.

It had observed their behavior for decades. These creatures seemed drawn to the light of human souls. They envied that light for they were born without it. They desired to have it for their own, but they couldn't. No matter how many humans one of these creatures consumed it made no difference; they would never have their own light inside them, leaving them trapped in an endless cycle of gluttony and death. It was pitiful, really.

Fortunately for It, it could benefit from these imperfect creature's behavior. Unlike them, It could consume souls. Not digest them and waste them, but it was more akin to attaching them to itself; adding to Its power like a reverse parasite. When It had been banished from that other world, all the souls it had previously consumed had been freed. Therefore, It greatly desired to regain its old power. These empty creatures could be to It's advantage.

Because they were devoid of light, they were very easy for It to enthrall. It forced itself upon countless numbers of them, forming a great host. Each of their bodies acting as a small piece of a massive, aggregated vessel. All under Its command.

It had directed its new bodies at the outskirts of human civilization. With Its will behind them, when they slaughtered a human their soul became a part of It. It grew fat with the energy provided by Its unwilling prey. It could hear their confused thoughts; questioning what had happened to themselves. The ones that understood their situation screamed in terror and madness; wailed in hopelessness.

Good. Their emotion only fueled Its power further.

It had gone on like this for over a year. Not very long on anyone's scale of time but for It, it was happy. It had thought that maybe, just maybe, it could build up enough energy to open a new rift so more of Its kind could join It on this world. But to do that it would need more power. The few thousand souls It had collected from consuming just as many humans in its time on this world wouldn't due. It would need millions.

But all good things must come to an end. Eventually, the humans resolved to end Its feasting. They gathered together an army and campaigned to exterminate Its vessels. At first, It wasn't worried; no matter how many of Its vessels they killed, it could always find more to replace them and humans It killed with its vessels would only contribute to Its own power. However, some of the humans in this conflict were... different.

Somehow, these beings forged of the dust of the earth had harnessed the power of their souls. With the energy within them empowering their weapons, every time they struck down one of Its thralls it was agony. Moreover, they drained itself of power; their weapons having the ability to free the souls trapped within It. With every vessel destroyed, Its power waned until eventually It had almost nothing. In an effort to preserve itself, It had relinquished its control over the empty creatures and secluded itself in a forest to rest and recuperate.

Years passed. Decades turned to centuries as It desperately clung onto what little power it had left; rarely adding to its pool when an unsuspecting victim entered Its domain. But in relatively recent times, It couldn't afford to do this anymore. The humans had built an institution nearby; the light and power of harnessed souls flared brightly from it. With souls shining brightly, these different humans would foray into the forest and slaughter the empty beasts that dwelled there. It knew that if it tried to add these human's souls to its own, the endeavor would be painful. And even if it did succeed, more would come and It couldn't expect to fight and win such an encounter and it didn't have the energy to flee very far. Instead, it bided its time. Sleeping the time away and wishing for a better day.

Today was just another day for It. On the edges of Its senses, it detected bright souls entering the forest for the routine culling of the empty creatures. It was going to ignore them until one in particular caught its attention. This one... was different. It was different among these different humans. An outsider. It couldn't know for sure why this was; in Its current form it only had a limited set of senses. Specifically, it could only see their souls.

They moved in a group of five; four of them with the distinctive signature of femininity and the one It was so interested in was masculine. It could see the color their souls shined in: rosy red, icy white, shadowy violet, and a burning yellow. The one It was interested in shone with an elemental green. It could see their dispositions: red was unmarred and still innocent. She would make a scrumptious little treat if It could get a hold of her. White had veins of pride running through her and a large dose of self-loathing. Probably one of those "duty and honor" types; efficient and very satisfying to consume. The shadowed violet had... something to prove. A troubled heart, maybe holding onto a grievance. Bitter, but tasteful.

Yellow was radiating light like a fire. A heart of passion then; she wouldn't go down easy but if It did manage to do it her soul would be very much worth it. But the green one. He was strange; his soul seemed to be shining from a single compact, highly dense point. His disposition was inquisitive; calm at the moment but showed the clear fractures of being traumatized. Probably very recently too.

It needed to investigate this. It had never seen a soul structured quite like this before and the sense of foreignness intrigued it. Marshalling its will, It forced itself upon an empty creature near the small group, a tiny avian, and directed it towards the quintet.

There was one sure way for It to get answers quickly. The method would probably _hurt_ but It was very, very curious.

Seeing through the bird's eyes, It flew its newly commandeered body directly at the curiously dense soul. It sent the avian creature upwards over the treetops then back down in a steep dive. The vaguely raven-like creature fell out of the sky like a malicious thunderbolt on an ineludible trajectory. Its object of curiosity had no chance of evading or striking it down before It learned what it wanted to know.

It was just a few seconds of flight away now and it gazed upon the curiosity's physical form; seeing that his body did not appear human. Which was strange because his soul most definitely was, albeit a little unusual. No matter, this only further piqued Its curiosity.

Moment of impact. Its vessel collided with the subject and made contact before rapidly breaking away and flying out of there. Supersonic chunks of matter lanced out from the group at Its possession and It quickly broke links from the empty creature which, not a second later, had its wings clipped by the projectiles.

It ignored the outbursts of energy springing from the five, now alerted, beings. Instead, It weighed in its newly gained knowledge. And what it discovered was both intriguing and disturbing.

When a soul is first poured out onto the material world, the particular area of its birth will imprint upon it a unique signature. Every world had subtle differences in the impressions they left on their inhabitants and if a being knew what it was looking for, it could determine the origin of an individual. Fortunately for It, it knew exactly what it was looking for and that's what made this intriguing.

The impression left on this soul was the same as the humans on the world It had lived in before. The world had a name, what was it? It searched some of its oldest memories for that bit of information.

Ah, yes. Terra. The particular memory that piece of knowledge came from was unpleasant; a word uttered by its banisher. But that didn't matter. There was a Terran from Terra here on this world the natives called Remnant. While this information alone did not prove there was a way between the two worlds now, the disturbing part of its new knowledge heavily implied it.

This soul had been... altered. It was still distinctly human but there was something more to it. Whatever it was, it was powerful.

Sheer, absolute, brilliant, power. The kind that one wouldn't find in a human but only in some of the oldest entities in all of existence, and it knew painfully well that those same entities could bestow a fraction of their power onto a "mortal". This was never a whimsical gift either; it was an investment. By this logic, It could assume whatever had instilled power into this human would still be nearby watching its subject or the unknown entity had retired back on to another plane. And if it had phased out of this world, it would only be logical for it to keep an easy way back. A stable rift perhaps?

It didn't know. But It was eager to find out. It would be watching this strange human very closely for the near future.

"Maybe better days have finally come..."

* * *

Charlie lowered his rifle and exchanged looks with everyone around him. "What the heck was that about?"

"I dunno. Maybe it just really didn't like you." Yang remarked offhandedly.

"Maybe." Charlie mumbled. "Anyone know who landed the hit?"

"I know I missed." Ruby answered. "So did Weiss." The white haired girl 'humphed' and muttered something about 'low speed projectiles'. "Its a toss up between you and Blake I think."

"It doesn't really matter. It was just one small Nevermore." Blake said while sheathing her weapons. "Let's keep moving; we can't be far now."

The group fanned out and marched on. The forest was once again quiet; in the next hour Charlie only heard the loud crack characteristic of Ruby's scythe go off twice and a smattering of booms, bangs, and hisses coming from the directions of Yang, Blake, and Weiss respectively. The fact he hadn't run into anything yet was both relieving and worrying. Relieving because Charlie was free of the unease he felt whenever he faced a Grimm and worrying because... well, he had a pessimistic streak; he had always told himself to never expect anything good to happen.

As if to prove him right, the biggest and most well armored Beowolf he had seen so far emerged from behind a thicket of bushes. Things happened quickly. The Grimm gave him one good look before becoming visibly agitated and charging. Charlie immediately leveled his rifle at the charging beast and squeezed the trigger; dumping the magazine in a spray of automatic gunfire. The creature was having none of that though; it absorbed the shots like a sponge and a few of them actually bounced off its bone mask. When the distance between the two of them couldn't be more than seven yards, Charlie dropped his rifle, drew his sword, and at the last possible second sidestepped out of the way. The beast quickly spun around and Charlie planted his blade in the thing's abdomen.

This only seemed to piss it off.

The Beowolf raised both of its arms (forepaws?) and brought them down in a rapid series of strikes. Charlie still held on to his sword though and tried to pull it out. The Grimm, as if sensing him trying to escape with his weapon, opened its jaws impossibly wide and clamped down on his head. With static flickering at the edge of his vision, Charlie attempted to pull himself away but the creature's grip held firm. So, he used the first technique that came to mind. An age old method that he was sure had solved many problems throughout history.

He began punching it in the face.

Well, he hoped it was its face. He was really just hammering down on the thing's head with closed fists.

The hammer strikes appeared to be working; he could feel the pressure on his head loosening enough so he could pull his head out of the maw of the monster. But the Beowolf still stubbornly held onto him; the wolf-creature holding him, ironically, in a crushing under-arm bear hug. As the creature reared its head back to try and once again bite his head off, Charlie delivered several open-handed chops to the side of the Beowolf's neck; punctuating each with words expressing his irritation.

"Get. The. Frak. OFF. ME!"

On the latest strike, Charlie was surprised to find that his hand met far too little resistance against the Grimm's thick hide. In fact, it didn't stop at all. He watched in horrid fascination as his hand passed through the Beowolf's neck, down through the shoulder, and out under the arm; the limb sheathed in a green nimbus of light and separating the Grimm's head, shoulder, and right arm away from its body.

The dismembered creature's body slumped to the forest floor in two pieces. Charlie looked over the slain beast and back to his hand in wonder. "Wow." He quietly said aloud. That was the power of Aura; a shield and a sword. Though, he could still use some practice on the shield part he thought as he rubbed the rough scratches the Beowolf's fangs left on the top of his head.

The mechanical man reached down and pulled his discarded sword out of the Grimm's already fading body. 'A strange phenomena.' He mused as he scooped his firearm off the ground. He had read it about it the night before: one of the things that made the Grimm so mysterious was that studying them was almost impossible because upon death the carcass would rapidly fade away; the rate of decay directly proportional to the extent of the damage and size of the corpse.

Charlie quickly inspected his loaned rifle for damage and swapped out the empty magazine. An enemy this branch of humanity has been fighting for centuries and they still knew very little of their nemesis. They knew much of their behavior and volumes can and have been written on combat, quarantine, and extermination of the beasts. But little could be said about their physical makeup, even less on their reproduction, and absolutely no solid facts could be found about their origin. Living, breathing, malicious organisms that seemed to be the very antithesis to human civilization.

Charlie tried to clear his mind by pulling and releasing the bolt handle of the rifle. Fear of the unknown was a terrible thing and fear was something he had noticed he was not feeling a lot of since arriving on Remnant. There was no rush in the face of danger, no feeling of trepidation in the strange circumstances he had been dumped in. Perhaps it was another side effect of his metal body; his now synthetic nature dulling or maybe not even having a natural body's fight-or-flight response. On this line of thought, frankly he was surprised he still had any emotion left at all.

"Oy vey, a psychologist would have a field day with me." He muttered to himself has he jogged on, hoping to catch up with the others.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**So, funny thing. This chapter was basically finished two weeks ago and I only started editing it two days ago. I would have finished a lot sooner but... Monty, you know? A damn shame is what it is. It's the first time I've ever shed tears over the passing of a stranger and that surprised me. I guess it's because I have some good memories about the days I discovered his work. I suppose it hurt me to find out the man responsible for brightening those days is no longer with us. ****But, I digress. I'm sure the fandom has heard enough about this.**

**I'm not really satisfied with this chapter, especially the beginning but hopefully that segment got the message across. Any suggestions on how to make it more convincing or streamlined would be much appreciated. Shout out to the guest that pointed out my "its and it's" errors. I'll be more careful.**

**Trivia: I chose the name "Schnee Gun Works" as a reference to the company Krupp. Mostly because I saw a picture on Wikipedia of the Krupp Gun Works and I thought it sounded cool. Then I realized Krupp was infamous for its use of forced labor during the Second World War, kind of like the Schnee Dust Company's own questionable labor practices... *sigh* I spent far too long than I'm proud of finding meaning in the serial number I made up for the gun.**

**On another note, I've started referring to the theoretical Chancellor/Chairman/President/Prime Minister of Atlas in my head as "The Kaiser". I find it amusing.**


	4. Chapter 4

Charlie had been worried that the box they were looking for was going to be difficult to spot. He was expecting a brown or green container nestled under the shade of a tree; expertly placed to confuse and send any seekers on a wild goose chase. But the box wasn't hidden. It was lying in the middle of a grassy clearing; painted stark white and fluorescent orange.

"Not really a box." It was more of a rectangle. About five by two by two feet in length, width, and height respectively.

"It's more like a chest."

"Maybe a case?"

"It's a trunk."

"Semantics."

"I'm calling it a trunk."

"Why are you agreeing with Weiss?" Ruby jokingly whined. "You're supposed to be on my side..."

"Sorry, when I see a flat-topped container with a hinged lid I think trunk," Charlie reasoned to which Ruby only sighed, "Fine."

"Well we found what we were looking for. Let's head back!" Yang said. The blonde girl strode over to the trunk and picked it up with both hands. "Whoa, it's heavier than it looks," she said as she hefted it over her shoulder.

"What's inside of it?" Weiss asked as she approached. The girl walked to Yang's side and found a pad lock tightly securing the latch. "It's locked."

"Why not shoot it off?" Charlie suggested.

"I don't think that's a good idea. It's probably locked for a reason," Ruby responded. "We might lose points or something."

"Very well," Charlie accepted. "Let me take the trunk Yang."

"Why?"

"Because I'm a gentleman," Charlie nodded with what could have been sarcasm coming out of his vocalizer. "But in all seriousness I did observe all of you back there. It seems to me that you'll need both of your hands to fight effectively. I on the other hand," he waved around his rifle with one arm "not so much."

"Okay. Knock yourself out." Yang shrugged and handed the trunk over Charlie, who took it over his shoulder and quickly realized it was much heavier than it looked. 'Reloading is going to be a pain in the ass,' he thought and looked back at Yang and answered her unasked question that was clearly plastered across her face. "The pressure is uncomfortable, but I'll live," he assured her. "Now we can make best speed to the pickup point."

"Good thinking. How much time do we have left?" The blonde wondered to which Weiss pulled her scroll out and replied, "It's 2:14 P.M. and the objective is due at 4:15. The pickup point is about an hour and a half walk southwest from here."

"Alright! Let's get there in half the time," Ruby said.

"Can we stick together this time?" Charlie suggested. "I had a bad run in with a Beowolf not too long ago," he said and tilted his head down to show the bite marks.

"Sure. We're not searching anymore so there'd be no point in spreading out," the red cloaked girl assured him.

"Great. Let's get moving."

* * *

They were condensing around its target. Not good. Now it would need to direct even more bodies towards the five of them if It wanted even a small chance to claim him.

At first, It had been content to watch. That was before its target had demonstrated his ability. There was nothing particularly noteworthy about the act of chopping an empty vessel in twain in and of itself, but the power the act hinted at gave It pause.

The target's soul had revealed itself in that fleeting moment as all do when used as a material instrument before Its 'eyes'. And what It saw only set into stone the desire it had to take his soul for itself.

The object of its attention's connection to its energy source was different indeed. The reservoir of energy collected by a human soul and expelled by a phenomenon the natives of this world referred to as Aura could be likened to a pond with a creek flowing into it. When they wanted to use it they would figuratively drop a pail into the 'fluid' and direct it at whatever they so desired and were capable of. Those that didn't know how direct their energy could be said to possess no pail; they would need to make one first.

This one though, this enchantingly green gem of a soul could be compared to a river flowing into a lake held back by a dam. The flow right now was a trickle, very inconsistent. His energy control was pathetic. If It were to continue the dam analogy, it would say that he probably didn't quite know how to open the figurative flood gates. This brought up a mental image of trying to drain an ocean with a spoon, which It was sure some other being would have found amusing.

On this line of thinking It wondered what would happen if that dam broke. The potential energy behind this single being was impressive; much more than any entity on this plane had any right to be. Why, if It had access to that kind of power it could do a lot of things like, open its own rift and try to rejoin its kin. That would be something. It was growing tired of its time on this world anyway.

But in order to do any of this, It would need to claim his soul like it had done to so many others before. And in order to do that, It would need bodies to weaken and eventually reap him. But he was not alone: he was surrounded by a group that, while small, were all very capable fighters and more than able to fend off any paltry force It might send his way. Fortunately for It, it dwelled in a forest of the soulless. There was no shortage of bodies to throw at its prize.

If It had a material form, it would have smiled from the anticipation it radiated as it gathered up its will and forced itself upon the relative seniors of all the nearby empty vessels. With the largest and eldest creatures being directed through the forest or otherwise rising from their slumber, the lesser creatures under them instinctively followed their lead. None of them compared to the specimens in the horde it had amassed centuries before, but they would suffice in dealing with a scattering of humans.

Soon, It would have everything it wanted.

* * *

"OF COURSE IT HAD TO BE A DEATH STALKER! AGAIN!"

"Just keep dodging, you're doing great!"

"Yeah! Bob and weave Jaune!"

"You make it *oof* sound easy! How 'bout you get down from *whoa!* tha-that rock and try it! *oh no*"

"LESS TALKY MORE BLOCKY!" Nora Valkyrie shouted down at Jaune from her perch on a large boulder situated at top of a cliff.

If he had the breath, Jaune Arc would have sighed. Unfortunately for him, he was running for his life through a narrow gorge with a giant Death Stalker snapping at his heels. How many of these things were there in the Emerald Forest? You would think SOMEONE would fly over occasionally in a Bullhead to kill a few of these things!

'And don't tell me they couldn't!' he thought as he looked over his shoulder. 'I've seen the quarter-ton bombs they keep in the- *OH CRAP*.' His internal thoughts were rudely interrupted by a high speed stinger aimed straight at his face, which he narrowly blocked with a raised shield.

"WOO!"

"Almost there Jaune!"

Why had he agreed to this plan? Oh right, he's the one that thought of it. Why had no one stopped him and told him it was a stupid idea!?

"Just a few more yards just a few more yards just a few more yards!" Jaune chanted as he forced his legs to carry him over the line they had drawn in the dirt earlier to mark the safe zone.

"Now! Drop it now!" he yelled up to his teammates at the top of the cliff.

"HAHAHAHAHA! Crash an' SMASH!" Nora cheered as she punted the boulder off the side of the cliff with an explosive hammer blow.

As Jaune watched the massive rock fall, time seemed to slow as he mentally reviewed how the plan had gone so far.

Team JNPR, pronounced juniper, had passed through this gorge earlier that day on their search for their assigned trunk. He remembered seeing the boulder placed dangerously close to the edge of one of the cliffs above them, but had paid it no mind at the time. But that single detail suddenly became very relevant when they had found their objective not too far away.

JNPR's assigned trunk was located at the mouth of a Death Stalker den. They knew it was a den and not an ordinary cave because they had spotted the giant Grimm scorpion's luminescent stinger seemingly floating in the shadows deeper inside. The thing was smart, he could admit that. It was waiting for someone to show up. As soon as someone tried to make a grab for it, the Death Stalker would come bursting out of the cave and try to kill whatever unlucky person was closest.

The four members of Team JNPR had deliberated on what to do for several minutes. Nora suggested attacking in a straight, head-to-head, fight. Ren thought that they could try sneaking the trunk away but Pyrrha quickly pointed out that they would need to distract it first and that even if they did and manage to retrieve the trunk that still left the Death Stalker alive and able to engage them. That was when Jaune realized that the ravine they had passed through earlier was not that far away. More importantly he realized that big boulder just might come in handy.

He explained his idea with his teammates. Someone would get the Death Stalker's attention and lead it into the narrow pass. As it was distracted, someone would run in and grab the trunk. As that was happening, someone would drop the boulder on top of the Grimm, hopefully killing it.

Nora loved it. "Let's smash a big bug with a bigger rock!" Pyrrha thought it was a good idea, if a bit risky. Ren was willing to go along with it, but asked an important question. "Who's the bait?"

Pyrrha had immediately volunteered but Jaune had somehow managed to persuade her to let him be the bait instead, saying how "A leader can't have someone do what he's not willing to do." It was his plan, he should take the risk. That's what his mom always told him to do!

Not that he would say that out loud.

"Besides, if it survives I'll need someone who can finish it off," he had reasoned. Pyrrha reluctantly agreed, and went off with Nora to prepare the trap while Ren took up a position in a tree that had a line of site to the cave. Jaune mentally braced himself and tried to muster every scrap of confidence he could find before he swaggered up to the mouth of the cave.

"Okay, breathe," he had whispered to himself. "And, relax," he needed to clear his head; to tell himself that he could do this! "Confidence is key." That's what Pyrrha had been telling him during their sparring sessions. "With a little courage and a willingness to be bold, you'd be surprised at what you might be capable of." Yeah, this would be no problem.

"HEY! C'MON OUT YOU OVERGROWN BUG!" he had shouted when he had gotten within ten yards of the den; pounding his sword and shield together to make noise. For a few seconds there was no reaction and Jaune was about to step closer towards the cave until he heard it: the rhythmic clacking of multiple legs moving over hard stone.

"Oh... boy," he muttered as the Death Stalker skittered out of the cave, chittering loudly and snapping its claws audibly; its many eyes dilating and focusing on its potential prey.

Jaune took one step back. The Death Stalker took eight steps forward. "Uh, hi," he said awkwardly. He had thought he would have been able to come up with a snarky one-liner on the spot. Shame.

The Death Stalker screeched with a high pitched chattering and rapidly crawled towards him. Jaune didn't need to be pushed to turn around and run. "Note to self: a team leader should always have good one-liners ready!" he yelled at himself as he turned tail and sprinted away from the agitated monster.

That was all of five minutes ago. Jaune was surprised his plan was turning out as well as it was. Hopefully Ren managed to grab the trunk.

The boulder plummeted downwards and smashed into the ground, shattering and throwing clouds of dust into the air. Jaune brought an arm up to protect his eyes from the flying debris; pebbles pinging off of his shield and shoulder plates.

"Wow. I can't believe that worked!" he exclaimed as the dust began to settle. The smile that was forming on his face however, was quickly removed when he saw a yellow orb shining through the dust.

"Jaune! WE MISSED!"

"I can see that Nora!"

"Jaune you need to get out of there!" came a concerned shout from Pyrrha. His bronze armored partner leapt down from the cliff and landed by his side, rifle braced on her shield. Jaune was about to turn around to once again run away until he noticed something very peculiar.

The Death Stalker wasn't moving.

"Wait wait wait, wait Pyrrha. Look. Something's wrong with it." He pointed with his sword at the scorpion Grimm.

Indeed, the Death Stalker was simply standing there and its many gleaming eyes were pulsing with no discernable pattern. Pyrrha eased out of her stance but not by much. "Is it stunned?" she said aloud to no one in particular. Her question was seemingly answered by the Death Stalker itself; the creature let out a series of clicks, chirps, and finally an almost deferential sounding hum before it turned around and skittered back the way it came.

"Well, that wasn't creepy at all," Jaune said after a moment of silence. Next to him, Pyrrha holstered her weapon and shield on her back. "Yes, that was very unusual. Let's hope Ren is not in the way."

"GUYS, REN GOT THE BOX!" Nora yelled from the top of the cliff. Jaune and Pyrrha glanced at each other. "I guess that answers that. At least now we can head to the pickup point," he said to which his red haired partner simply nodded.

It took a few minutes to link back up with Nora and Ren further down the gorge and reorient themselves towards their destination. As they started heading towards their last stop, they came across a section of the treeline that was flattened inward toward the forest as if run over by a large vehicle. Just a cursory inspection showed that even more trees were flattened or pushed aside deeper into the forest, creating a trail. Following the path, they found something stranger than that: an oddly consistent line of indentations running the length of the trail. In hindsight, Jaune realized it took far too long for them to realize what it was; stranger than even that it was Ren who pointed it out.

"They're Death Stalker tracks." The only other male of the group suddenly said while they were stopped and trying to figure out which direction they should be headed.

It made sense. The trees looked like they had been felled only recently; it was probably the same Death Stalker they had lured into the gorge. "What's it doing plowing through the woods?" Nora asked the obvious question. Ren merely shrugged.

Nora's words filtered through Jaune's mind as he was looking at a map on his scroll. They needed to be heading southwest. He looked up from his map and saw how convenient the trail they were following was. It was basically heading in a straight line southwest, only deviating slightly to go around large land features. He was about to call his team to start moving when a realization suddenly struck him.

It was a newly formed trail, probably made by the same Death Stalker from the gorge. "What's it doing plowing through the woods..." Jaune mumbled to himself. "What's it doing plowing through the woods headed south..."

"West," he abruptly stated.

"What about west Jaune?" Pyrrha said to him from nearby.

"These are Death Stalker tracks, Pyrrha. This trail was probably made by the same Death Stalker that left us in the gorge and it's heading in almost a straight line southwest! Our pickup point is southwest!" Jaune exclaimed, pacing around as he explained his thoughts.

Pyrrha's eyes widened slightly. "Why would it be heading towards the objective?"

"I don't know! Honestly, I was kind of hoping you would know; I'm not doing that great in Grimm studies!"

"Well..." The crimson haired girl thought about it.

As she understood it, Grimm were attracted to humans and faunus. This much was obvious; generations of observation proved it. Those same observations have also led to the belief that Grimm are generally attracted to people emanating negative emotions, like rage and despair. For example, a military unit in the field low on morale will almost always be attacked by proportionately larger numbers of creatures than an identical unit with full confidence in itself. Or, a village driving off a Grimm attack and sustaining loss of life in the process, if the people stew in their grief and succumb to hopelessness, they will eventually attract a large mob or even a horde that will destroy them.

The current theory on why this is has to do with the way emotions alter the way a person's Aura manifests itself. Any Huntsman or other experienced Aura user could tell you that when a person is not in their usual state of mind, their soul will reflect it. However, it's very difficult to describe in words how an ethereal energy field can be labeled as "angry" or "sad"; it had to be experienced to be truly understood.

But those reasons could not be what was happening now; the negative attraction method took a relatively long period of time before it really took effect. Beacon students weren't the kind of people to be really affected by this problem in the first place, and even if they were, a few hours was not nearly enough time for the phenomena to start taking a noticeable effect; certainly not long enough to draw away a Death Stalker closing in on a kill.

But, there had been exceptions to this rule. Many times throughout history Grimm had gathered in almost innumerable hordes and made concentrated attacks on the kingdoms during otherwise peaceful eras. No one knew exactly what caused this, but that could be said about many aspects of the Grimm; they were almost unpredictable. Humanity was and still is in the dark regarding much of their mortal foes.

Pyrrha's train of thought was broken when heard the sound of beating wings pass overhead. A small flock of black birds, some of them with telltale white, bone plates visible on their bodies, was flying southwest at just above treetop level. Jaune noticed it too. "That can't be good," he observed and she agreed.

"We should follow them," she suggested to Jaune who nodded and called out to the other half of the team. "Nora! Ren! Let's go!"

* * *

Team RWBY plus one jogged through the forest at a steady pace. They traveled in a loose diamond formation that was about fifteen yards wide and long with Ruby taking the lead, Weiss to her left, Blake to her right, and Yang bringing up the rear. Charlie, and the package he held by its carry handle with his left hand, stayed in the middle of the four girls, as if being escorted. They had discovered the carry handle lying flush against the lid not long after they started their trek. Evidently, it hadn't been noticed at first in their eagerness to move.

Most of the journey had so far been silent in terms of meaningful dialogue. The only sounds that were being regularly made were quick bursts of gunfire and the screeches of dying Grimm. Charlie pointedly ignored the horrible noises and pressed on; taking every opportunity they stopped to set down the trunk and reload the rifle.

It was after one of these stops that Weiss drifted closer and decided to strike up a conversation with him.

"You know," she began in between breaths while jogging. "I've noticed you're taking all of this rather well."

"What brings this up?" Charlie responded, his voice not burdened with the need to breathe.

"I was under the impression that you're not used to this; the running and fighting I mean," Weiss explained.

"Oh, that. You're right, this isn't exactly my normal routine," he replied.

"But here you are: running into danger without hesitation," she stated; her point only being exemplified when Charlie suddenly said "To your left!" and pivoted towards her. Weiss backflipped out of the way as he squeezed off a burst of fire, dropping an Ursa Minor.

"I think you've proven my point," she said after a second when she caught up. Charlie only let out a noncommittal grunt. "So if this isn't normal for you, what did you do before all this?"

"Are you interviewing me again?" Charlie asked. "Can't wait till we get back to Beacon for a Q and A?"

"We didn't finish last time, remember?" Weiss replied and after a moment's pause continued. "And are we ever gonna talk about the thing that supposedly spoke to you when Ruby shut you off?"

"I see no reason to fret about that right now. Whatever it was will come and say its piece when it's ready. Until then, worrying about it would be worse than useless. In my opinion." Charlie ended his statement rather sharply.

"Fine." Weiss snapped back. "But I still have a lot of questions for you!"

"Of course." he said. "Can you at least wait till we get to the pickup zone?"

Weiss held her tongue and they continued their jog quietly. She didn't have to wait for as long as he thought because after just a few more minutes they entered a large grassy clearing. This clearing was far larger than the sandy one they had stopped in earlier that day. It was almost circular and over two hundred yards in diameter by Charlie's guess. In the middle there was an area of packed, brown earth that was free of grass. Ruby stopped near the middle of it and pulled out her scroll.

"Aaaannnnd, this is it! Now we just wait for the tiltjet," Ruby declared in her usual, cheerful manner.

The rest of the group stopped around her, recovering from their short jog. Charlie himself didn't need to catch a breather for obvious reasons, however he was rather impressed by the endurance of the girls. Ruby didn't appear at all tired out and Blake and Yang weren't showing any of the obvious signs that accompanied physical activity. The only person it was perceptible on was Weiss, but only just; her cheeks were lightly flushed and he noticed she was breathing a little faster than normal.

Weiss caught Charlie's gaze and moved her head with an inquisitive tilt before ambling towards him in a relaxed manner, stopping about three feet in front of him. "O..." she began with a breath "... kay. Shall we continue?"

"Sure, we got time to kill don't we?"

The white-dressed girl nodded and took her scroll out from... somewhere. Where did she keep that thing? Did her dress have pockets? He decided to ask.

"Weiss, where do you stow that?" Charlie gestured to the electronic device.

"I have a bag on my back." she replied easily without looking up from whatever she was doing on her scroll.

"What?" Charlie expressed his disbelief and shuffled behind the girl to take a look.

"Huh, look at that," he said, looking at a small, white bag of some kind fastened to her by a white ribbon tied around her waist. It was no wonder he hadn't noticed it before! Everything this girl wore was white and her long ponytail was almost obscuring it!

He was broken out of his mental tangent by Weiss turning around and showing him her scroll, which now had a blinking red light. "I'm just going to record this for later," she explained.

Charlie nodded and leaned back to look up at the sky. 'How should I start this... ah!'

"The longer I live like this, the more I appreciate the benefits of being mechanical." He looked back down at Weiss and stated.

"What are some of the benefits?" The girl replied, committing to the role of an interviewer.

"An obvious one? We just ran and I literally didn't feel anything bad from it. Back on Earth, I wasn't exactly the healthiest person alive. I know if I tried something like that before I wouldn't have been able to keep up," he said. "I was actually kind of surprised how well you guys held up, but I suppose it's to be expected from people training to be warriors."

"Yes, we've dedicated our lives to get where we are now," Weiss remarked. "But what about you? Before this, what did you dedicate your life to? I recall from our last discussion you saying you worked for your uncle."

"Ah yes, my uncle ran two businesses. I don't know much about one of them. I think it had something to do with accounting and financial stuff. I don't know, he was very tight lipped about it. The second business was a janitorial and handyman service. That's the one I worked under," Charlie answered.

"Handyman?" Weiss asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You know, paint a building, replace a window, clean a gutter. Repair and maintenance work essentially."

"Oh. But that was your job. What were you planning on doing with your life?"

"What were my life goals, you mean?" Charlie paced back and forth in a line. "Well... I'm not sure. I was kind of just going with the flow, you know? Well, that's not entirely true. I could have either gone to school or joined the army, like my father. Next question please." he ended his answer rather curtly. Weiss got the distinct impression that Charlie did not enjoy talking about himself.

"Okay..." She said, sifting through her mind for something to ask. "How about your homeland? Tell me about it."

"Like what?"

"Anything. The landscape, the culture, politics..."

"Hmmm. Okay. Let's start with my home state then." Charlie suggested to which Weiss nodded and gestured for him to continue.

"Right. California. Thirty-first state to join the union and-" he began but stopped when Weiss politely raised her hand. "Yes?"

"How many states are in this union?" She inquired.

"Fifty, and if you want I can name them all; in alphabetical order even." Charlie offered but the girl shook her head to decline. "Perhaps it would be better if you just wrote that down later." She paused. "So do they teach you to memorize all of them or is that something you personally did?"

"I was taught in school with a song," he said with what sounded like a humorous smile entering his voice. "The culture can be very patriotic, to the point some foreigners are disturbed by it. Which even I can agree to some extent because the fact that many schools have their students recite the pledge of allegiance to the country's flag every morning is a bit... worrying."

"Anyway, California is one of the three states on the west coast, the largest of the three and the third largest in the nation as a whole, but with the highest population. Yes?" Charlie stopped again when Weiss raised her hand.

"What's the total population of Earth, if you know it?" she asked.

"Seven billion, and counting." Charlie answered and watched with mild amusement as the white haired girl's jaw dropped in shock.

"You can't be serious," Weiss disputed but after a moment it became very clear that he was serious. "But, but... huh!? How is that even possible? How do you feed them all?"

"It's possible because Earth doesn't have a Grimm problem so we're not constrained by how well we can protect our land from monsters. To your second point, we don't. Not completely. Hunger is a serious problem on Earth, though it is practically a non-issue in the wealthier countries. But, there are a significant amount of... less fortunate people. The problem is being fixed though and I had some hope to see world hunger end within my lifetime." He stared wistfully up into the sky.

"Remnant is kind of lucky. The Grimm have ensured that the people of this world are mostly united or are at least benevolently neutral to one another and the limited space has created a drive to innovate and press your boundaries. But, the cost of pressing those boundaries is unfortunate. For the few days I've been here I've done almost nothing but read, and from reading your history books I know that every inch of ground humanity has claimed on this world has been payed in blood. I believe it was a Vacuan councilman that said 'It costs lives to make lives.' and I find that beautiful in a tragic sense..."

Charlie looked back down from his pensive thoughts and saw that Weiss was also staring into the sky in contemplation. She was probably still trying to wrap her mind around the idea of billions of people. "But that's enough about here, right?" he said to get her attention. "You want to hear more about my home."

With her nod in the affirmative, he continued. "My hometown was in the central valley, where there's a lot of farmland. To the east, there is a mountain range called the Sierra Nevada. On clearer days in some places you can see them out in the distance." Behind Charlie came the characteristic bang-whistle of Yang's gauntlet. He turned around and was almost startled to spot the carcass of an Ursa laying a few dozen yards from the treeline and the girl skipping towards it.

"...To the west, there's the coastal ranges and the San Francisco Bay, with a city of the same name and a major port." Yang was waving Ruby over. When her sister got close enough, Yang said something to her younger and struck a triumphant pose on top of the decaying corpse. Ruby took out her scroll and appeared to be taking pictures. "If you were to follow the highway north for about an hour by car, you would find Sacramento, the state capital."

Charlie cast a glance at Weiss and saw that she was looking upon the scene with judgmental, narrowed eyes. "What's wrong?" he asked her when she let out an exasperated sigh.

"Oh, nothing it's just- I wish they'd take this more seriously!" When she saw that Charlie only gave her a shrug she asked "What? Are you with fine with that?"

He shrugged again and mentally cursed his lack of facial expressions. "It is a little odd. But everyone has their own way of coping. If that's their way of doing it that's fine by me," he commented. "If they started ripping entrails out of their kills and throwing them around like streamers, then that's when I'd start to get a little concerned." His comment elicited a reaction from the girl who snorted with disgust. "Anyway, where were we?" he chuckled.

"You were verbally laying out a map," Weiss said, literally wiping her previous expression off her face.

"Right. You know, I don't know why I asked that. Must just be habit," he responded and got a facepalm from the girl for his troubles. "Heh, I think I'll draw you a map when we get back. I do wonder how good this body will let me draw..."

"Anyway, I've just been talking about the central and northern areas. To the south are the larger population centers, Los Angeles and San Diego. L.A. is famous for, well, famous people. They make a lot of movies there. And San Diego... the first thing I can think of is the navy presence. Oh, and the zoo! Basically, lots of tourism."

"I see." Weiss nodded her head. "I have a question though: I've noticed that some of these places have what sounds like a prefix. The 'San' and 'Las', what is that?"

"Those, are a holdover from another language. They mean 'Saint' and 'The' respectively."

"Interesting. I was wondering because, well you speak perfect Imperian and that didn't sound like it."

"Imperian? Is that what you call what we're speaking?" He received a simple nod. "Fascinating. You know, isn't it a strange coincidence that we can even understand each other at all? I mean, what are the chances that two worlds could develop the same language? Astronomical. Simply incredible."

"The... thought hadn't occurred to me," Weiss admitted with a embarrassed smile. "Wait, what do you call it?"

"English. Why do you call it Imperian?"

"Because it's the language derived from the old empire that existed before the kingdoms. It was the language everyone could speak when the kingdoms established contact with each other and it just kind of stuck throughout the centuries so almost everyone speaks it. Why do you call it English?"

"The language of England which was part of an empire that spanned the globe. Isn't that odd? The language originated out of an empire on both worlds."

"Another coincidence," she agreed.

"So this Imperian is sort of a bridge language for the people of Remnant," Charlie surmised. "Any other commonly spoken tongues?"

"Not really. There are a few regional dialects, but you can expect to be understood no matter where you go," Weiss said. "As an example, I'm expected to learn High Atlesian at some point. It's a common thing for the upper class over there to do so they can enjoy the classic arts in their original form. The same could be said in all the kingdoms."

"Do you know any now? I'm curious as to how it sounds."

"Hardly. I had a choice between cultural studies or becoming a Huntress. It's obvious what I chose."

"But do you know any? Even just a small phrase?"

"I only know a few conversational phrases." She took a breath. "Like 'guten tag'. It means-"

"Good day," he interrupted her. "Looks like English isn't the only language Earth and Remnant have in common." She just stared at him with a face that demanded an answer. "We call it German. The speakers call it Deutsch."

Weiss nodded in comprehension. "Anyway, let's continue-"

The girl was once again interrupted, this time by a thunderously loud roar. Both turned their heads to the source of the noise on the far end of the clearing. An impressively large Ursa Major had made its presence known to them and was charging across the field straight towards Charlie. It didn't get a quarter of the way before its head came cleanly off as Ruby went spinning by it.

"Okay, so-"

More roars interrupted her as a pack of Ursa stampeded onto the field. The other three members of the group formed up and beckoned Weiss and Charlie to join them. "It's becoming a trend," Charlie said as he shouldered his rifle.

"What is?"

"You getting interrupted." He could practically feel her eyes roll.

Weiss drew her rapier from its place at her side and the two of them made their way towards the rest of the team. When they got into speaking distance, Blake made an observation. "Ursa don't travel in packs."

"We'll talk about Grimm studies when we're not about to be mauled to death," Yang quipped. "Right now, well, mamma needs a new rug!" The blonde took off towards the charging sleuth with her black-bowed partner just a few steps behind.

"If only..." Ruby sighed in longing before squeezing off a shot from her scythe to throw herself forward.

"'Once more into the fray.' " Charlie declaimed. Weiss nodded and spun the cylinder of her rapier onto a desired setting and ran after Ruby.

Charlie simply held his position, sighted the nearest Grimm and sent a tri-burst of rounds through its bone mask.

* * *

Casualties were mounting. No matter, they would run out of munitions long before It ran out of bodies. It was being clever with its energy expenditure by relinquishing control when the empty creature would be sure to attack those humans of its own will; leaving behind a festering desire for the unique soul. The method was inefficient though. What could have been an orderly battle line had degenerated into a rabble of snapping teeth. These individuals and their crude, instinctive minds had almost no higher thought. They were easily distracted, easily tricked and easily destroyed. But that didn't matter. It was content to watch its target get slowly ground down. Once he was helpless, then it would strike.

Even though It was observing the struggle, It was not unaware of its surroundings. A portion of its awareness perceived another entity approaching its location. This wouldn't usually be a concern; it was entirely normal for other beings to pass through its position in space without ever noticing that It was there. This, wasn't that situation. First and foremost, it wasn't a physical entity; it was a being of the ethers much like itself. Immaterial. Whatever it was, it could most likely see It. It sent out a wave of information, a ping, towards the unknown. "What are you?"

It immediately received a reply in the form of a tendril of pure violence.

The tendril struck Its being, compromising Its integrity. As soon as the pain of the hit registered, It moved away from the newcomer in shock. It did not expect such a violent outburst. It had encountered other incorporeal entities on this world and none of them had ever reacted with such ferocity. Wanting to understand the reason for the attack, It sent another ping, "Have I done something to offend you?"

"**You are anathema**," it, no, he spoke to It in a deep, overwhelming bass. "You are **entropy**, **disorder**, **chaos**. You are a **cancer**. Your very existence offends all that I stand for." His statements were like calm proclamations of fact but overflowing with contempt.

"Coexistence is possible. Just ignore me; allow me to feed."

"I cannot let you do that."

"Why? Is self-sustainment wrong?"

"It is when you have chosen the wrong soul," he warned. "Don't lie to me. We both know you don't have to consume anything. But you do so anyway because you are a **GLUTTONOUS HEDONIST** who cares only for your own self-pleasure! Your behavior is a menace to the natural order. You and all the issues you spawn will be... taken care of."

It was getting its distance now but the newcomer was following; radiating waves of hatred. "You can flee. They all tried to but they couldn't hide. Not for long. Not before they were removed from reality itself."

It was putting out energy now to increase the distance between the two of them. But he was easily keeping up. "I think I recognize your signature! The feeder that got away! For a parasite, you seem to have done well for yourself!" Another tendril struck out at its being and eroded a piece of it away.

It had to get away. But he was too fast! It needed to nullify his advantage and there was only one logical thing to do that.

It expanded its senses over the forest to find an empty vessel. A suitably large and powerful one was needed if what it planned to do was to succeed. Luck was on its side this day it seems for a large scorpioid was closing in on the target; still obeying its command.

This could work.

It shifted its being and dominated the body of the scorpioid. The other entity tried to damage it once more, but with an anchor in the physical world it could largely ignore his attempts and push-back only the most ferocious ones. He growled in frustration. "Fine, possess a mindless body. But sooner or later your urges will make you leave and I'll be there waiting for you." He hovered along with the scorpioid as it made its way through the forest.

Minutes ticked by until finally the scorpioid made its way into the field that its target was making his stand at. As soon as its eyes registered his form, it sent the body on a reckless charge towards him. The other entity emitted waves of surprise and then alarm. "Ah, I see what you are doing. How desperate, but I suppose this was to be expected of a cornered animal. This will only be delaying the inevitable you know, except before it was incarceration. If you go through with this, it will be your demise."

It ignored him and readied the scorpioid's stinger.

"So be it. You have sealed your own fate."

* * *

One thing that became abundantly clear was that the Grimm did not like Charlie.

Almost all of them were ignoring the girls. Most of them were trying to run past them and towards their mechanized acquaintance; only attacking them when they struck first. Gradually, the team found themselves forming a circle being assaulted on all sides with Charlie in the center.

There was a lull in the fighting and Charlie began to wonder how many Grimm had shown up. Not to mention how many he and the rest of the group had already killed. If this kept up, the smoke from all the decaying corpses would make it hard to see. He took a look around to check the status on the rest of the group and everyone seemed fine. As fine as people under attack by an unrelenting stream of monsters could be anyway.

A wisp of smoke caught his attention. The ejection port on his rifle was thrown open and steaming. With clockwork precision he thumbed the magazine release and reloaded the weapon for the inevitable next wave, duly noting his dwindling ammunition. "When is the tiltjet due to arrive?"

"It's not supposed to arrive for almost another hour," came a reply from Ruby, closing and setting her scroll back to its place.

"And how much longer can we keep this up?"

"How many mags you got left?"

"...Six," he said after a quick mental checklist.

"We'll be fine." She flourished her scythe and and gripped it tightly with both hands. On the other side of the field, a herd of plated boars, Boarbatusks, was rushing towards them. The four girls went forth to meet them while Charlie advanced slowly behind them taking slow, methodical shots aimed at gaps in their armor like at the knee joints to stumble them or in an eye socket to kill them instantly. One Boarbatusk that got hit in the knee caught air time, flipping end over end before being sheared cleanly in half with a single swipe from Blake.

Another Boarbatusk was running for Weiss. When it built up enough speed it curled up into a wheel, intending to roll the rest of the way to the girl and to use the spines on its back as a weapon. Weiss saw this and sent a shining, blue-white globule from the tip of her rapier into the Grimm's path. A slanted mass of ice appeared where it landed, forming a hastily constructed ramp. The Boarbatusk did not deviate from its path and rolled directly onto the ramp which sent it into the air. Using a series of glyphs as a set of stairs, Weiss met the boar at the apex of its flight and skewered the now unfurled beast in its vulnerable underside.

While that was happening, Yang and Ruby had found themselves working closely together. Ruby's scythe was evidently an excellent tool for dispatching this species of Grimm. She was heavily exploiting the curved nature of the blade to slash at unprotected segments from odd angles. One particularly nasty kill involved the girl accelerating towards a Boarbatusk head on and hooking the tip of the blade into a notch in its neck, dragging the creature behind her. With a firm hold on it, Ruby leveraged her scythe and threw the Grimm upwards, finishing it with a single shot that left it falling to the ground in several pieces. And while Yang's gauntlets only provided a very short reach, she used them in conjunction with her already considerable natural strength. The blonde was pulverizing Grimm, overwhelming any armor they had with gracefully applied brute force.

Still though, like the others these Grimm seemed infatuated with Charlie. While the rest of the group was doing a great job at keeping the aggression off of him, at least one was bound to get through. Charlie spotted a curled up Boarbatusk wheeling towards him which prompted him to roll out of the way. With the immediate danger gone, he reshouldered his weapon and turned around to track the tumbling Grimm. When it was curled up, a Boarbatusk was fast but not very maneuverable so he took his time to line up a perfect, clean shot. When the boar had finally managed to stop and right itself, Charlie sent a stream of bullets through its neck.

He was about to turn back around and start contributing again but something far more pressing had his attention. A pair of trees fell at the end of the field beyond his most recently slain Boarbatusk. Emerging from the forest was the biggest Grimm he had seen so far today. Massive claws, an extensive armored carapace, a bright yellow stinger and the size of a large truck. There was no mistaking it for anything other than a Death Stalker. And it was heading straight towards him. At full speed.

While he didn't feel fear when he sighted it, Charlie could not deny that he felt something flutter deep within himself. He brushed off the feeling and tried to focus on the task at hand, namely stopping that monstrosity. He recalled the Grimmoire noting that the eyes were the most vulnerable target on the front of a Death Stalker, so he commited himself to shooting them out. All ten of them.

The Death Stalker was about seventy-five yards away when Charlie took am and fired the first shot.

Crack. One eye out, it screeched in pain but kept moving forward. Sixty yards.

Crack. Crack. Two more. It only seemed to speed up.

CrackCrackCrack. Another three. This only left the rearmost four eyes not facing directly forward. Thirty yards.

Another shot, this one hastily aimed and missing thanks to the odd angle of the remaining eyes. Twenty yards.

Charlie was backing away now. He thought he could hear someone calling his name but he couldn't really focus on it. There was something about this Grimm, it was dominating his attention; he couldn't look away. His finger was like it was glued to the trigger of his rifle, spraying the remainder of the magazine into its face to no effect. As the Death Stalker got closer he could swear he was hearing something, almost like a voice but distorted and broken.

"...e -ine..."

"...-bmit..."

"...-op -ting -e..."

It was upon him now. There was nowhere to hide and he couldn't run away. The stinger plunged downward and Charlie watched in fascination as it briefly met resistance before piercing his chest. He could feel his weight being lifted and could see the ground falling away as he was raised into the sky.

"_At last_."

He didn't know where those words came from but he perceived them nonetheless. Almost as soon as he comprehended that, an oppressive force set upon him. He could feel it everywhere around him, and in him as well. It was like water and he was at the bottom of the deepest ocean drowning in it.

His vision was fading into darkness now. Was he dying? Again? For some reason he found that hilarious and started laughing, cackling like a madman. He would be tearing up if he still had eyes.

His vision was just a tiny window now. 'I had a good run...' his slipping consciousness thought. 'Yeah, it was too good to last anyway...' As he accepted his fate a red blur flashed before him and he felt a strange sense of falling. Suddenly, the darkness in his vision receded and he saw that, yes, he was indeed falling. He did not manage to vocalize anything before he unceremoniously impacted the hard ground.

Charlie laid there staring at the sky for what seemed like forever. The only things expressing the passage of time were the drifting clouds far above him and the sounds around him. The shouts, the various bangs, booms and cracks of firearms. Most of them familiar but there were a few new ones now, the most distinctive of which having what could only be described as a thumping boom which could be felt reverberating in the ground. Whatever that was, was big and hitting hard. He felt as if he should get up and move out of the way. But he also wanted to stay still and be without stimuli for awhile; to go into sleep mode. Yeah, that would be a great thing to just welcome the comfort of darkness. To just close his eyes, or in his case deactivate his optics, and slip away...

"Do not fall asleep," a voice whispered to him.

"What's wrong with sleep?" His mind struggled to form coherent thought. What could possibly be wrong with just snoozing for awhile?

"It's hungry in the dark."

What was that supposed to mean? Oh well, random voices whispering into the mind rarely made sense. He should really get back to letting the darkness overtake him and drifting off to unconsciousness...

"Do not fall asleep," the voice came again with more force. "It will consume you if you let it."

"What does that even mean?"

"Do not fall asleep. It's only making you feel like you need to sleep. You do not need sleep so do not give in."

He supposed the voice had a point. It wasn't like his body needed sleep anyway. He was a machine! Just fill him up and lube him up and he was good to go! "You're right," he slurred as he pushed himself to his feet. "I don't need it, who needs to sleep anyway!" He looked at his chest and saw that the Death Stalker's stinger had broken off during his fall, leaving only the tip still embedded into it. With a single tug he wrenched it out and tossed it on the ground. Charlie looked around the field for the former owner of the stinger and saw that the giant scorpion was being harassed by Ruby and a few other people he didn't recognize. Taking another look around, he spotted his dropped rifle lying on the ground a few yards away.

He scooped the weapon off the ground, stumbling and nearly falling over in the process. The world had seemingly spun around him and he felt something akin to dizziness. Apparently, the hole the sting left behind wasn't only cosmetic. Doing his best to shrug it off, Charlie dumped the empty magazine from the weapon and with a slow deliberation pushed another in its place. Primed and ready he started moving towards the skirmish slowly but gradually picked up his pace as he got closer.

It was a hectic fight. Without its stinger, the Death Stalker had resorted to flailing its tail around like a rather stiff whip. Internally, he winced when the thrashing limb struck one of the new arrivals and sent them tumbling away. He zoomed in on them, wondering if they were okay. The newcomer was most definitely female as evidenced by her pink, thigh length skirt. She was a redhead and not in the sense of literal red hair as that Pyrrha Nikos girl he had met the day before was, but orange haired. Besides the skirt, she was clothed in a high collared, black, vest with a sleeveless white top underneath. Her torso was wrapped in some kind of gray, skeletonized armor that framed her breast. White, detached sleeves covered each arm and she pulled herself up with pink, fingerless, gloved hands. What she was pulling herself up with gave him pause.

A gray metal staff, which he quickly noted was a segmented shaft acting as the grip for a massive, two-handed war hammer. The purpose of the segments on the shaft became apparent as the pink-skirted girl folded the weapon up; panels sliding out of place on the head of the weapon revealing pink cylinders. She tucked its now handy, compact form close to her shoulder, aimed and fired without a moments hesitation. The folded hammer let out two distinct thump sounds like he had heard before which were almost instantly accompanied by two booms. Two plumes of pink smoke had exploded onto the Death Stalker; the blast of the impacts momentarily stunning it.

If he had eyelids to blink, he would have. That was a hammer. That transformed into a grenade launcher. What.

His surprise was put on hold because the orange haired girl wasn't done yet. She had unfolded the grenade launcher back into its full size, placed the head of the hammer on the ground and took a step onto it before an explosion erupted at the base and sent her flying high into the air on a ballistic arc towards the scorpion. Charlie panned his head towards her obvious destination and saw that large ice crystals had formed around one set of the Death Stalker's legs, pinning the beast in place. The handiwork of Weiss if the white-dressed girl standing nearby was any indication.

The hammer-wielding girl came down like a bolt of lightning. She landed a solid hammer blow on the joint connecting the Death Stalker's left claw before rolling away and out of the flailing, stingerless tail's reach. The claw separated not quite cleanly while Ruby, Weiss and one other burst into action. Charlie could have opened fire but he figured he'd just be wasting bullets on the scorpion's hard, armored carapace. This was the time for blade work to get into the exposed chinks of its armor. So he stood at a fair distance and watched.

The other newcomer besides Hammer Girl that was assisting Ruby and Weiss was most decidedly male, although he had long black hair tied up in a thin ponytail; a single tuft of hair dyed magenta was on the left side of his face. He came in low and fast, the tails of his green, black and gold trimmed tailcoat fluttering in the wind. He held both his arms forward, holding two pistols buzzing with automatic fire. Each pistol had long, green blades attached vertically bellow the muzzle and conspicuous magazines extending out of the grip. Clad in simple, white pants his legs propelled him out of the path of a tail strike. Charlie was a bit impressed by the flexibility of the Death Stalker's tail.

Ruby, Weiss and Green Coat fell upon the pinned Death Stalker and systematically cut it apart; carving the giant arachnid up like a thanksgiving turkey. First to go was the tail. Gunfire and Dust impacts weakened a joint on the tail enough for Ruby to dismember it near the middle with a single stroke. Black smoke wafted from the wound as the three of them then set upon the unfrozen set of legs. Hammer Girl joined them and smashed the other claw off while the others removed the legs. The Death Stalker twitched and screeched, desperately trying to free itself from the ice. But, the thrashing was growing more feeble as the seconds ticked by.

Eventually Ruby, Weiss and the two newcomers gathered near the face of the disfigured predator. It rapidly clicked its mandibles together and strained against its icy trap. Without further provocation, Hammer Girl bashed its face mask in with a single, explosive smash. Weiss summoned a glyph and formed a spear of ice, lancing it through the weakened plate and finally ending the Death Stalker.

The thrashing stopped and the smoke that marked the death of a Grimm began flowing off the slowly fading corpse. Charlie marched towards the four but looked around the field for the commotion he could still hear going on. However, it seems he turned his head too quickly and felt a strange sense of vertigo again, almost falling over. He recovered and saw Yang and Blake over a hundred yards away being harried by dark, flying shapes. They were joined by two others, recognizing them as Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos by their face and hair. Their attire was significantly different from the school uniforms he had met them in. Jaune was in a black hoodie and blue jeans, his chest and shoulders protected by white, armor plates. A man-sized Nevermore was clawing at him but he was keeping it at bay with a raised shield; his orange sleeved arms holding up to the stress remarkably well. He slashed and stabbed at it wildly with a blue-hilted longsword he gripped with brown, fingertip-less, gloved hands

It was shot off of him with a couple of high-powered rifle shots. Pyrrha smoothly turned away from Jaune and switched to another target above her. She expertly held her stance and was hitting flying targets with single, well aimed shots. She was armored in elaborate, bronze colored greaves and cuisses and a bronze bracer covering her left forearm. She wore a dark red miniskirt and a drapery of a brighter shade wrapped around her waist and flowed in the wind. In her dark, long-gloved arms she gripped a red and bronze rifle. Semi-automatic, it had no discernible magazine. Her torso was covered with a stiff, light brown and bronze, shoulderless top. A metal gorget protected her neck, bronze just like her other armor pieces as well as the circular shield resting on her back.

Another Nevermore, slightly larger that the one that harassed Jaune, swooped down on the red-haired girl from behind. "Behind you Pyrrha!" came a shout from Jaune. She fluidly came about and shot the descending bird. Wounded but not dead, the raven-like Grimm continued on in a suicidal dive. Pyrrha twirled her rifle and it transformed into a long -handled sword in the most intricate process Charlie had witnessed so far. She leapt to the side and slashed a wing off of the bird a second before it crashed down, ensuring it would stay down.

The flock above the group started dispersing, thanks to in part by the pink flak explosions detonating in their midst. Everyone on the field with some kind of ranged capability aimed skyward to eliminate the flying Grimm. The air was a storm of bullets, explosives and energized Dust for several intense minutes before finally subsiding into an eerie silence.

Nine living souls looked around warily for anymore signs of danger. When they found none, it was Jaune that broke the ice. "I guess that's all of them."

Charlie was going to add something but was cut off when a red blur appeared in front of him. "Are you okay!?" Ruby looked up at him with a very concerned face before reaching up with her hand to feel where the Death Stalker's stinger had penetrated.

"Yeah, I'm good. I get kind of dizzy when I turn but other than that I'm fine."

Ruby breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. Did you see how high you were lifted up? I mean I was really worried and kind of mad and..." she rambled on incoherently. Charlie put a hand on her shoulder in an effort to calm her. "Hey, I'm fine. I can look after myself. Mostly." The girl nodded at his assurances. "Although, wait. I think there was something else." He held a finger up in thought.

Was there something else? He struggled to remember what was wrong. Something about sleep? It had something to do with sleep. It was important, but try as he might he couldn't recall exactly what or why. "...Something about sleep," he said after a moment. "Uh, I forgot." Which was troubling. So far, his body had gifted him with a perfect memory. He could recall any number of the things he had read since he had awoken on Remnant and recite them verbatim. The fact he couldn't remember this was strange but he supposed he could write it off as a side effect of the damage.

Ruby grinned at that. "Maybe you just need some?"

"Yeah, maybe."

It couldn't be that important. If it were he would remember. Right?

* * *

**Author's Note: When writing the descriptions of JNPR's attire, I've come to the conclusion that Charlie has a staring problem. We'll call it active scanning. The N and R of JNPR will be more formally introduced next chapter. We'll also be taking a break from all of the fighting for awhile for more peaceful character development.**

**It sure is strange he couldn't remember what about sleep was important. Don't worry, there is a reason that will be revealed or at least hinted at in the coming chapters.**

**Anyone have a guess on the population of Remnant? The figure I'm assuming is somewhere around 350-450 million total. Maybe more but still well under a billion. I'm basing this off the world population figure during the Black Death which is an interesting comparison, at least on the surface...**

**Remnant must have a fascinating dynamic between population growth and usable space. To elaborate on "it cost's lives to make lives", as population increases you'll need more space. When you need more space, you'll have to fight Grimm for it. To fight Grimm, you'll need explorers, settlers, and soldiers to protect them. Naturally, people are going to die. To minimize losses, you only build settlements in highly defendable locations. This severely restricts possible expansion zones. Mountain Glenn is a testament to this.**

**At least trade is still a thing in the world of RWBY, so the space outside the kingdom's protection must be relatively safe as long as you keep moving. The World of Remnant episode "Kingdoms" also mentions how small villages are not uncommon but it's also not uncommon for them to disappear. Perhaps these small villages can be reasonably secured with effort, but I doubt real cities with large-scale infrastructure would fare as well. Let's assume that Grimm attraction increases exponentially with human population size.**

**As a note on language, my head canon assumes that while the countries we associate the languages with on Earth do not exist on Remnant the language still obviously does. I mean, look at the names of the characters! On a related note, do you think compilations of color-based names are popular books for expectant parents on Remnant? I wonder what the most common name is...**

**What did you think of the little geography lesson? Was it okay or did I butcher it?**

**Fun fact: Almost every time I type "Jaune" I type "Juan" first. The image of Jaune with a sombrero has compelled me to give him one as soon as I can in this story.**

**Also, what do you think about shorter chapters? Like in the 5-7K word range? Would you be okay with that? Let me know.**

**Comments, criticism, and suggestions are welcome, as always. Until next time.**


	5. Chapter 5

The last two hours had been strangely calm.

They had milled about the field waiting for their ride. Charlie had found out that the pink-skirted, hammer-wielder was named Nora Valkyrie in an energetic introduction and had somehow divined the guy in the green coat was named Lie Ren from her nonsensical rambling. Ruby had stayed close to him and managed to communicate Charlie's origin as a human being to the girl. Learning this, Nora started an interesting line of questioning.

"I like pancakes. Did you like pancakes too?" she had asked innocently, which was slightly disconcerting having witnessed her smash a giant scorpion apart not twenty minutes earlier.

"Sure, I love breakfast food. In fact the last thing I almost ate was a bowl of cereal," he had replied coolly. He had thought about it for the first time then, that he would never be able to eat again. Which had its upsides and downsides. On one hand, he wouldn't ever worry about starving; the issue being replaced by fuel needs. On the other hand, he would never taste ever again. He couldn't derive pleasure from fuel, at least he had assumed he couldn't. He hadn't been refueled as of yet. He made a note to ask Ruby about that later.

"What kind was it?"

"Fruity Pebbles."

"What is that?"

"Like crisp rice with sugary, artificial fruit flavors."

"Oooooh! Like Commodore Crisp! I LOOOOOVE that but Ren says I can't have any because every time I do I 'get funny'."

"I can only imagine," he had said rather dryly.

Nora had only smiled at that and wandered idly away, following a butterfly.

Charlie turned to Jaune who had been standing nearby listening and said, "And she uses explosives?"

"Hey! Nora may be a little odd, but she is pretty smart!" Jaune defended his teammate. "She's just really..."

"Outgoing? Extroverted?" Charlie supplied. Ditsy and airheaded he kept to himself.

"Yeah! That!"

Charlie nodded but didn't say anything. For several minutes after that, Jaune had remained nearby; looking like he had something on his mind but couldn't bring himself to ask. Ruby was the one to notice and asked him what was wrong.

"Oh, nothing," Jaune had said. "It's just, well... you know?" He was gesturing to Charlie "He's not an AI?"

"Nope," Ruby confirmed. "He's got a human soul in there. But it's not from Remnant so technically that makes him an alien."

"Uh, what?"

"I'm surprised Pyrrha didn't tell you," Charlie said. He got strange looks from both Jaune and Ruby. "We met yesterday. Weiss was there," he directed to each of them respectively. Jaune looked back and saw his bronze armored partner having a conversation with Weiss and Yang.

They had continued on with idle small talk until the tiltjet finally arrived. All nine of them boarded the aircraft in short order. The pilot had been courteous but also short-spoken throughout the whole process and didn't speak a single word to them during the short flight back to Beacon. Upon landing, teams RWBY and JNPR said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Charlie was trudging back in the direction of the dorm room until Ruby grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him another way.

"Where are we going?"

"To the workshop!"

* * *

It had been two hours since the last shot fired that Charlie found himself sitting on a table. The workshops of Beacon were well equipped facilities. In just this small, secluded room that Ruby had claimed there was a lathe, milling machine, a grinder of some sort and a few other devices he couldn't place a name on. On the way here he had seen signs directed towards forges and various, more specialized toolrooms. Ruby was standing nearby, donning a pair of heavy gloves, an apron and a welding mask. On a shelf next to her was a stack of supplies she would need for the repair she was about to make: metal plates, electronic components, a can of spray paint and a reference manual.

Ruby had determined the cause of the vertigo he had been feeling by checking the schematics of his particular android model. Apparently, the Death Stalker sting had broken a certain gyroscope his body needed to find balance. Ruby was going to remove the damaged section of plate and components, drop a replacement in, weld a new plate over it and give the new plate a coat of paint to match the rest. The whole job was simple enough.

"You know, your like a surgeon right now," he told her. "And this is like a hospital for me."

"I guess. You would think I would remember going to medical school though." Ruby turned towards him and Charlie couldn't help but laugh at her appearance. "Hey, what's so funny?" she pouted.

"Nothing... it's just your apron's a size too big is all!" he said mirthfully. And it was; the brown, leather apron was dragging along the concrete floor. Her whole getup looked out of place on her. It was kind of cute.

Ruby blew a raspberry. "Don't upset the doctor! You might wake up with a third arm or a second head or something..."

"Actually, if you could figure it out I wouldn't mind getting a gun grafted onto me."

She lowered the mask over her face. "I'll think about it," came her muffled reply. Ruby shuffled towards him; carefully stepping to make sure she wouldn't trip over her apron. When she was close enough, Ruby reached around him and felt for his power button. He felt her slide open the panel and apply the necessary pressure. Charlie couldn't help but feel a wave of trepidation as he knew he would soon be asleep. He looked up at Ruby but couldn't see her eyes through her mask. She hoewever, caught his gaze and simply said, "You'll be fine."

Those were the last things he heard and saw before his vision cut out.

* * *

He once again found himself in the place he had taken to calling the Green Room. Charlie looked around and saw that nothing had changed about it. The room was still a box shaped chamber with walls textured like a cut and polished emerald. He observed that the brass doorknob was gone. Not that he could really tell where it would've been; looking around was disorienting, there were no points of reference to draw from. As he was aimlessly spinning however, a point of reference did suddenly appear. Namely, a faceless, gray-hooded figure in long robes of the same color. Charlie stopped his spinning to look at the being. One second the space had been empty and the next it was there. Or, maybe it had always been there and he just noticed it. It really was hard to tell where anything in this room was.

"Hello?" Charlie tried.

"Salutations, Charles," the being spoke in a smooth, masculine bass.

"Have we met?"

"We've spoken twice before. Once in here and a whisper in the forest."

"You're that sparkly thing?" was Charlie's surprised reply.

"Yes. The veil is for your comfort; I have been informed my usual appearance can be unsettling." The being had seemingly read his thoughts on the matter.

"The faceless, robed look is just as creepy," Charlie said bluntly.

"Forgive me," the being said with a low bow. "I do not usually have a need for appearances. If you have a suggestion on how I can improve our future interactions, I will be receptive."

"Uh, okay. It's no problem. And as a suggestion? Start with a face or, at least eyes."

"Very good. I will work on that at a later time. At the moment we have some issues to discuss."

"Okay? I'm listening."

"Straight to the problem: I told you not to sleep. Why are you here?"

"Oh! That's the thing about sleep I forgot about! Wait, why not?

The robed figure was silent for a noticeable second before he replied. "I feared the message would not make it across intact. Something... other has latched on to you, back in the forest. It happened when the giant scorpion creature struck you."

"What's this 'Something Other'?" Charlie asked tentatively.

"There really isn't one name for them. They were primordial entities created in the beginning from the frothing torrent of energy of the early universe. In this day and age they are derogatorily referred to as Feeders or less commonly Bloats and Gluttons. But what is most interesting is that they are almost always referred to in the past tense; the majority were wiped out and a small handful were imprisoned. The means by which they were birthed was long ago dismantled."

Charlie's mind ground to a halt with the new information. "What?" was his articulate response.

"None of the captured subjects have ever escaped. Ergo, you have the last independent Feeder in existence latched on to your soul," the being stated plainly.

"What? Why? What does it want?" Charlie said with an edge of panic. He did not like the sound of the name Feeder.

"It wants your soul." The hooded figure drifted closer to him with no visible effort. "Feeders engulf souls. It will consume the natural radiance and dominate your body to serve its own ends. Using its bolstered strength, it will move to engulf other souls in an endless cycle of control and consumption."

"What makes this most despicable however," the being continued "is that your mind will be intact for all of this. You will be conscious for the suffering wrought by your enslaved body and you will continue your tortured existence until your soul is forcibly removed from the Feeder's grasp or it is freed by its destruction."

Charlie was stunned. He was being attacked by a spiritual predator and he didn't even know. "It's like a demon or something..."

"Indeed. Even without that inherent maliciousness, a Feeder is still a threat to the natural order."

"So, what do I do now? How am I even still alive?" Charlie asked him with a forlorn tone.

"You are still in control because of my effort. You have invited me in before, so I was able to latch on to you without force to defend you. But, I am at a quandary. I have not been able to eradicate the foe; it is a wily opponent and has managed to evade or resist all my attempts restrain and destroy it. I have reason to believe that this is due to your unique architecture. To put it simply, I don't think it knows how to take you over and I haven't given it the opportunity to learn either. This has had the unfortunate effect of keeping the Feeder on the move making it impossible to pin down."

"What are you asking me?" Charlie said with no small measure of hesitation.

"If you want me to destroy this blight, it needs to stay still. If you want it to stay still, it needs... an incentive."

"What kind of incentive?"

"A foothold. An anchor. I would count on this creature to be incredibly stubborn. If it finds a place in you to settle, it will be almost impossible for it to move quickly. I can take advantage of that moment of weakness to destroy it. But in order to do this without causing you permanent, catastrophic damage, I'll need you to let it in. Willingly."

Charlie wanted to believe there were other options but he felt so far out of his depth in this situation he didn't even know where to start. "...Alright. How do we do that? And what's the catch?"

"The 'catch' you may be referring to will be that this will not be a quick process. It will take me a month at the least to navigate the intricacies and find its den. And to as how we will do this, all I needed was your permission. Do I have it?"

"Well..." Should he give his permission? Should he put his trust in a strange, faceless, hooded figure he met in a dreamscape? When he put it like that, it did sound suspicious. But at the same time the strange, hooded figure claimed to have been protecting him. Maybe he should just ask?

"Why should I trust you? Why are you even helping me?"

"You have no reason to trust me besides my good word. I am helping you because it is what I am supposed to do," the hooded figure responded curtly. "I want you to know that I could have forced the path into your soul open for the Feeder to infest, but as I said I aim to prevent permanent damage to you. And before you ask, I need your permission as a formality. Think of it as a permit to open the gates without resistance."

"Is... there any other options?"

"No. As much as I hate to say it, this thing will most likely outlast me if the current state of affairs keeps up. If that happens, it will tear you apart. Figuratively.

"I see. What will you do, exactly?" Charlie inquired.

"The structure of the mind, body, and soul connection is a difficult thing to describe. But, to put it simply I am going to let it infest a certain part of what you are. Not anything important like personality or treasured memories but more fleeting things like passing fancies and stored fantasies. It will take its first opportunity to anchor there and the process after that should be painless for you a long as everything goes right. I will only require two things from you to ensure this goes as smoothly as possible. First, do not fall asleep. I was able to catch you this time because I suspected it would happen. If you fall asleep while this is underway, I will be unable to help you; you will need to fend for yourself."

"The second thing may be more difficult: do not speak of this incident to anyone and try not to think about it too much. Leaving it out of your thoughts can help in a passive manner. Keeping it off of everyone's mind will be far better than if it were on them. Auras react to each other on hidden dimensions in immensely complicated means. A single negative thought directed specifically to this issue, though seemingly inconsequential, could be catastrophic."

"Ignorance is bliss."

"In this case. So, if you are concerned that you might need to inform your friends about this in case something goes wrong, do not be. Everything should go correctly and even if something does go wrong, there are contingencies in place."

"So, positive thinking? I understand... I think. Do what you have to," Charlie finally consented.

"Excellent. We will speak again when this over." The hooded figure rapidly faded out of existence.

"Wait!" Charlie shouted, but he was already gone. "...I don't know your name."

He never got his name. Charlie stood there aimlessly until he was revived some time later.

* * *

His eyesight faded in from black. The first thing he saw was a featureless welding mask, the owner of which pulled up to reveal Ruby's thinly smiling face. "Done," she said. Charlie sat up from the table, having been laid down at some point, and inspected the site of his wound.

The hole had been patched by a square of metal about four inches wide. The patch was slightly raised from the rest of his chest and the even coat of paint did well to obscure the scar-like weld marks. Charlie jerked his head to the left and right, satisfied to find that the feeling of vertigo was gone. He ran a hand over the patch to test the feeling which made a coarse , metallic sound as his fingers bumped over the raised edge.

"Not my best work..." Ruby scratched the back of her head sheepishly. Charlie knocked on the plate twice with his knuckles. "It's good enough. Thank you, Ruby." He pushed himself off the table. "What now?"

"Well I'm hungry, so I was gonna go to the dining hall. There won't be much for you to do there so you could head back to the room if you want. Or, you could wander and just do your thing."

"I've had enough wandering for today. I'll just sit down and read or something," Charlie considered. "Oh wait, speaking of food. Am I ever going to need a recharge or refuel or what?"

"Oh yeah! Almost forgot." Ruby turned about and picked an item off the shelf. It was a cylinder about a foot long and two inches wide. "Turn around," she requested which he promptly obeyed. Ruby located a valve on his back and placed the lips of the tube over it and twisted. There was a brief, gaseous suction sound before she twisted the valve shut again and pulled it away. "There, you should be good for a few days depending on how active you are. I actually forgot to top you off when you first turned on, so you've been running on half a tank since then."

"Good to know I'm energy efficient." Charlie walked towards the door and pulled it open. "See you later."

Ruby was pulling off her apron and waved with her free hand. "Yeah, see ya."

* * *

"I've been thinking," Yang said suddenly.

Charlie looked up from his book. "About what?"

The long-haired blonde turned over onto her back; her head hanging upside down over the edge of her bed. "You're walking around naked."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Think about it. You're not wearing any clothes and the only thing covering you is your paint which is basically skin. And, just 'cause you don't have a junk doesn't mean you're not naked."

"I'm flattered that you're thinking about me naked, Yang." She gave him a lecherous smile and a wink. "Although," Charlie tapped his chin, "I suppose you do have a point. I mean, I do need pockets and it would help keep dirt off of me."

Yang hopped off her bunk, landing on the floor with a dull thud. "So, you want a coat?"

"A long coat with pockets would be perfect, I think," Charlie mused. He gave Yang a curious look as she approached him.

"Stand up."

"Why?"

"Just come on!" she waved her hands in a motion for him to stand.

"Uh, okay?" Yang circled around him with a thoughtful expression and an inquisitive humming. She held her arms up to his shoulders and looked him up and down before stopping in front of him with her arms crossed. "I got an idea," she said with a sudden snap of her fingers. "I'll be back Blake!" She bounded out of the room.

"Okay," came the delayed response of Blake who had been sitting at the edge of her bed engrossed in a book.

"What's up with her?" Charlie directed towards Blake, who simply cast him a glance and shrugged.

Yang returned about twenty minutes later with a large plastic bag in hand. She reached inside and pulled out a black, folded up bundle of cloth before casting the bag away. "Put this on." She tossed the cloth to Charlie. He carefully unfurled the bundle and examined the article.

It was a black long coat. He would have called it a trench coat but the slit on the back marked it as a duster. There was a line of silver studs along the front to fasten it shut as well as two deep pockets. Embroidered in white on the left breast was Beacon's crossed axe logo. He slipped the coat on and felt around inside and found a pocket on the left and right. He looked down and saw that the coat was long enough to reach just over mid-calf. Charlie walked into the bathroom and looked himself over in the mirror. Besides a few odd creases where his body didn't have smooth plate, he thought he looked rather spiffy. He could pass off as a regular person wearing a helmet and elaborate steel boots on a cursory inspection. Maybe.

"Is it mine?" Charlie asked and spun around to look at his back.

"Mmhmm!" Yang smiled.

"You didn't need to do this."

"True. But if I pointed it out to Ruby she would have done it sooner or later, so I just saved her the effort."

"Okay, but where did you even find this?"

"Student store."

"Oh. Well, thank you."

"Don't mention it!"

Charlie buttoned up his new coat and sat back down at the desk he had been reading at. He had read through several books since he had returned to the room; a small pile finished texts was accumulating. He had chosen whatever had sounded interesting or relevant. _The Practical Applications Of Dust, Third Edition_ was one, an _Encyclopedia of Semblance_ was another. _A Huntsman, Alone_ was an incredible true story which he had just finished and was about to pick up another book when his attention was called for.

"Well guys," Yang hopped off her bed once more. "I'm gonna go find Ruby. I'll see you two later."

"Bye Yang," he said without looking up.

"See you," Blake said softly.

The room was quiet for a long while after that; its two sole occupants silently reading and keeping out of each other's way. Blake, because that's what she liked to do and Charlie because he had nothing better to do. He was in the middle of some tastelessly written read on the history of Vale's expansion attempts when he heard his name called.

"Charlie."

He turned around and was surprised to find Blake looking at him; her book closed and placed on her lap.

"Blake?"

"I have a question, if you don't mind me asking."

"Alright, shoot."

"Do you miss it?" she said after a second of thought.

"Miss what?"

"Being human."

"I didn't know I wasn't anymore." A quizzical look came over her and she looked like she was going to say more but Charlie cut her off. "I know what you mean. You meant if I miss having a body of flesh and blood, right?" She nodded.

"I'd have to say yes. I may be stronger and think faster, but my senses are... dull."

"Dull?"

"I can't smell. Or taste. And my sense of touch is basically binary. I only have my sight and hearing left but at least they're really good."

"I don't breathe, I don't feel pain and my emotions have been dulled to mere facsimiles," he said. "I'm missing so many elements of the human condition, I suppose you could argue that I'm not human anymore. Maybe you're right. But, as an analogy, if you took a jug of water and poured it into a metal can, would it suddenly not be water anymore? It is the same thing after all, just in a different vessel," Charlie said. "Think about it like that, but with a soul instead of water. In every way that matters, I'm still the person I was before; I just look different. I may not be completely human anymore but at the same time, technically I still am."

A faint smile graced Blake's face. "I understand where you're coming from. I'm... glad that you're thinking about it like that."

"So, do you agree?"

"Yes. Yes I do. We all have the same kind of soul, so a person is a person."

"Ah, you're familiar with this logic?"

"It comes up sometimes... relating to the Faunus." She looked thoughtful for a moment before asking him, "What do you think of them? The Faunus, I mean."

"From what I understand from reading all this," he gestured towards the pile of books, "is that they sound like ordinary folk with extra bits. They don't seem different. The similar morals, similar lifestyles, humans and faunus sound like they have more in common than not. I'm actually surprised this racism even exists in a society that openly acknowledges the existence of the soul. Unless there is something fundamentally different between a faunus's and human's soul, then there's no real reason for it. I can understand it somewhat; people have found lesser reasons to hate each other. Take for example, skin color."

"Skin color?"

"Skin color. Some people don't like other people based on skin color."

"That's... seems so petty."

"Compared to the racism faunus suffer? Indeed."

Their conversation tapered off after that. Charlie returned to his selected reading material while Blake chose another book off of the shelf near her. He tossed the book he had been reading into the pile; evidently, even he could still suffer boredom. Picking up the next book in the stack, he read off the title: _Heroes of The Great War: Two and A Half Score Notable People._ Charlie flipped the cover open and to the table of contents. Two entries immediately stood out after scanning up and down the page. The first was the entry labled as _Arc, The Paragon_. His thoughts went to a certain Jaune Arc. Perhaps a relation?

The next entry that caught his eye was labeled as _K. Clementine, The Faunus Nurse_. Seeing as how he had just been talking about faunus, it seemed fitting to read about someone considered a hero that was one. He flipped a dozen or so pages towards their section of the book and read the overview. Her name was Kelly Clementine and she was famous for her bravery in the line of fire. She never abandoned her patients even in the face of overwhelming odds and discrimination. She was also on record for defending a triage tent from a minor Grimm incursion with nothing but a hack saw and a camp shovel.

Charlie looked over to the next page at the pictures of the nurse. Both photos were in black and white. One was of Clementine in uniform looking directly at the camera; cat-like ears sticking out from the top of her head. It was probably a picture pulled from the official records.

Charlie audibly hummed. He noted that the subject of the photo had two ears where you'd expect to find them on a human in addition to the cat ears on top. He knew a phrase from trawling certain parts of the internet that almost perfectly described this. What was it again?

Ah yes. Neko girl.

The photo next to the other was of Clementine in a more formal setting. She was prettied up in a fancy dress with a crowd of similarly dressed partygoers in the background. Upon her head and perfectly concealing her ears was a bow that blended well with her hair. How interesting, it was almost like the bow Blake wears...

And just like that, a hole in his perception was filled.

Charlie let the book slide from his grasp and hit the desk with a muted impact. He sat up straight, stared at the wall and began to think.

A bow almost like the one Blake wears.

Blake had expressed her interest in his opinion on the Faunus.

She was the first person to notice the Beowolf, before it had even entered the sandy clearing, this afternoon.

On the previous morning she had seemingly had no problem reading in the dim, early morning light.

From what he had read, faunus were notable for their enhanced senses; a gift of their animal features. The senses included excellent hearing and near perfect night vision. He recalled reading how that night vision was leveraged at the historically important battle of Fort Castle. Casting aside historical trivia, Charlie thought about what he should do. Was it just obvious and that's why no one brought it up? Or was Blake keeping it a secret and no one brought it up because they didn't know? If it was the latter, should he confront her about it? If it was the former, he would probably look like a fool for asking.

If it was the latter, why was she keeping it secret? Well, he didn't need to ask that. She would obviously do that to avoid discrimination. The more he thought about it, the more the latter option seemed likely; she did wear that bow all the time. Even in her sleep.

It was not usually a good idea to leave something like this unsaid. If he didn't say it now, it would gnaw at him forever until he got a definitive answer. Shoving aside his worries, he asked the question that would reveal a secret or brand him an idiot.

"Blake." He turned his chair around to look directly at the girl; the feet of it grinding against the floor.

"Hm?" She looked up from her book.

"Are you a faunus?"

Her amber eyes widened then blinked rapidly. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm sorry if I've misinterpreted the clues I've seen but, I've noticed your perception and you have an odd interest on my opinion of the Faunus. You also wear a bow on your head all the time. Kelly Clementine," he picked up the book and pointed to the cover, "was a faunus and she wore a similar bow at social functions that hid her ears. So Blake, correct me if I'm wrong but, are you a faunus?"

"...Yes." She visibly tensed up; like a coiled spring, ready to jump at any given moment.

"I see. Does anyone else know?" he said with a consciously leveled voice.

"No..."

"So you are keeping it a secret?"

"Yes..."

"I understand. And you would wish me to keep this a secret as well?"

"Yes."

"Alright." Charlie turned his chair back around and opened up his book.

Blake was shocked. This was not how she expected the first time someone finding out about her heritage was supposed to be. She had to recover from what was almost like being struck before she spoke again. "That's it?"

"That's it."

"Really?"

"Blake, I spent a good chunk of time telling you how I feel about the Faunus. You could have green skin and cat eyes, well you kind of already have that last one now that I think about it, but my point is that it still wouldn't change my opinion about you."

"What opinion is that?" she whispered.

"That you're a strong, nice, quiet girl who likes to read. You're training to become a Huntress so, according to what Ruby's told me, that makes you a good person." He looked over his shoulder and saw that Blake had gone very still and was looking at the floor. "We're all keeping secrets Blake. Some more than others. It's not my place to question why you would keep them when I have my own."

His words didn't seem to phase her; the girl was still staring at the floor. In response to this, Charlie stood up, walked over and sat down next to her. "I'm sorry if this confrontation has made you uncomfortable. Do you need a hug?"

That got her attention. Her head snapped up to look at him. "What? No, I don't-"

"You're getting one anyway."

He gently but firmly embraced the black-haired girl with both arms. Blake recoiled from the cold metal of his hands, the shock of it did however, manage to break her out of her melancholy. There was also a soft warmth in his center; probably from the Dust powering him. Before she could return the gesture, he let go and looked her in the eye. "Hugs make everything better."

She couldn't help but laugh. It was absurd. Here was an almost purpose-built fighting machine comforting her about the revelation of her biggest secret. "I guess they do," she replied with what she knew was probably a stupid smile on her face.

"You can trust me, Blake," he said with a hand placed on her shoulder. "We're all keeping secrets."

"Some more than others."

* * *

Weiss pulled up a chair at the usual spot in the library. She had started to make a habit of coming here early in the semester when she wanted to be alone but still easily found. She had formed a routine of sitting down, connecting a set of earphones to her scroll to cancel out any background noise and finding something to do. Sometimes she'd connect to the school's wireless network and browse around or talk to people. Other times she'd set her scroll to shuffle through the music she had downloaded onto it and just listen in and drift away.

Today, Weiss was doing neither of those things. Today, she was going to be productive. As usual she connected her set of white earphones, custom engraved with the Schnee snowflake emblem on each earpiece, to her scroll and opened the device. The screen that greeted her was of a glowing, red indicator and a line of text that said: "RECORDING".

She had apparently forgotten to stop the recording from when she had been interviewing Charlie earlier that day. This had probably taken a significant chunk out of her scroll's memory. Weiss quickly tapped the stop button and brought up the window that represented the recording in waveform.

She had come to the library today to sift through her previous conversation with Charlie and transcribe it into useful notes for the report Ozpin wanted. Thanks to the graphic representation of the dialogue, it would be simple enough to navigate. Even now without listening to it, she could make a guess with reasonable accuracy who was talking by the length of the waves and the way they crested. That was only near the beginning though. Throughout most of the file were fitful spikes of intensity and walls of roaring sound. The long, trailing end of the file was mostly flat with periodic rises; probably snippets of conversations she had passed by and general background noise.

For a long while, Weiss played through the recording; scribbling down key words and phrases on a sheet of paper along the way. The actual conversation was relatively short so it didn't take long for her to get the information she needed. But, for no reason other than for curiosity's sake, the girl let the file continue playing. She skipped over the incoherent and mindless noise of course, but she did stop to listen to any voices that her scroll managed to catch. Most of them were shouts for attention or short exchanges of information; nothing of any real value. Still, she listened with her eyes closed and a finger hovering over the fast-forward button.

Another segment of meaningless noise and the sounds of struggle. She tapped the forward button and came upon a stretch of disjointed, static interference. Odd, the file had been clear of it so far. Weiss reflexively tapped the forward button again.

And nearly jumped out of her skin when a voice whispered in her ear.

She did manage to move her chair with her startled hop, but she quickly recomposed herself and glanced around; heads at nearby tables looked back down to whatever it is they were doing. Weiss gazed back down to her scroll and rewound the recording half a minute, slogging through static that almost sounded like half-spoken thoughts. At the mark, waves crested and formed only two words:

"At last."

The voice was grating and plagued with interference but she could hear the pure anticipation the words carried. It was absolutely bewildering. How did her scroll record it? More importantly, who said it? It was creepy, almost sinister.

Weiss consciously halted that train of thought and tried to rationalize the situation. Maybe, maybe it was an errant radio signal! Just a broadcast that her scroll managed to pick up! She nodded her head. Yes, she was pretty sure she's heard of something like that happening before. A fault in the wiring of the device or some such. Yes, no need to jump to any silly conclusions...

If the problem persists, Weiss made a mental note to find a technician or some other expert for a diagnosis. But for now her scroll seemed to be working fine. Weiss finished writing down what she needed and spent the rest of her time in the library with the world tuned out by calm, relaxing music.

* * *

**Author's Note: Now now, I know there is "color naming" rule but I was under the impression that it only started happening in the story during and after the Great War. Therefore, people born before the war would have more conventional names. Like Kelly. But then I found out that Kelly can refer to a shade of green. So, uh, win-win.**

**A short chapter I know. But, thank you to those who provided feedback on that question. You know who you are. Should I continue with chapters of this length or would you prefer longer ones?**

**This chapter has definitively established this story's place on the timeline; we're somewhere between Volume 1's episodes 14 and 15. They never really made it clear how long the time gap between those episodes were so... yeah.**

**What did you think of the Blake scene of this chapter? I was thinking that maybe she would have run away but, Charlie has been nothing but friendly! I can see why she would have ran from Weiss because of the bad blood associated with the Schnee Dust Company but not Charlie. Hopefully I've made the confrontation some what believable. I also hope that hug injected just the right amount of awkward. :)**

**There's some weird possession shtuff goin' on 'round here! And even more advice and warnings that barely make any sense! On a semi-related note, the idea that Weiss would be afraid of ghosts or other "spooky" things puts an evil smile on my face and a few ideas in my head.**

**I feel like I've neglected Yang in this chapter. I will try to rectify this next chapter! But, I also need to do the (long dreaded!) interactions with the staff! Glynda, Oobleck, Port, oh my! Not necessarily in that order and not necessarily all of them though! **

**Charlie has a long coat now. Can't have a protagonist running around naked now can we? **

**And, to the review left by a certain Kane: All I'll say in advance is that the coming chapters are going to be fun to write.**

**As usual, any and all feedback is welcome.**


	6. Chapter 6

Technically, Still Human CH. 6 (RWBY)

Several hours later, when the sun had already disappeared below the horizon, Weiss and Ruby filtered into the room. One a half-hour before the other. Charlie greeted each of them with a simple "Hello." and a nod. When Weiss came back, she didn't say much to him; only looking him up and down and remarking, "Really?"

"Yes, yes thank you." He sorely wished he had a mouth to convey the sarcastic smirk he felt.

Weiss only shook her head back and dug out her binder and slipped a sheet of paper into it. Pulling up a chair at another desk in the room, she took a textbook off the shelf and read quietly.

When Ruby came in not long after, she examined Charlie and his coat.

"Yang got it for me."

"I know, she told me. It looks okay."

"Thanks."

Ruby smiled and nodded at him before kicking her boots off and crawling into her bunk. The room went quiet again for around ten minutes; the only sound being a pencil on paper coming from Weiss. The white-haired girl suddenly spoke up without looking up from her work. "Ruby, did you do the assignment from Oobleck's class?"

A muffled, dissatisfied sound came from Ruby's direction.

"Ruby you need to do it."

"Bah!"

"I refuse to stand by and watch you slack off, Ruby." Weiss said, her voice icy cold.

"Ugh, I was gonna do it later!"

"Procrastination is a bad habit. I can't have that. I mean, as your partner, that would reflect poorly on me!" Charlie couldn't tell if she was joking or not. He hoped she was.

"Gee, thanks Weiss." Ruby said with a heavy dose of snark in her voice.

There was a rustling of bed sheets. "Can you hand me the book?"

"Get up and get it yourself."

"Nooooo, its too comfy up here."

"You're going to have to get up later anyway."

"Yeah, but not now."

Weiss turned a page in her textbook with much more force than necessary; slamming the page down loudly and turning to glare at Ruby. "Okay, okay fine! Geez..."

Ruby still didn't want to get up though. Maybe someone else would bring her the book if she asked nicely? She looked at Blake, who caught her gaze and narrowed her eyes. That was a no-go. What about Charlie? It wouldn't hurt to try, she reasoned.

"Char-lie!" she sang. "Could you get my history book for me?"

Charlie swiveled around to look at her. "Please?" she said with big, pleading eyes.

"Sure, I guess," he said and turned back towards the desk, catching a glance from Weiss. "Which is it?"

"The blue one with the gold stripes." Ruby pointed out a volume with gold trimming laying in the corner of his desk. Ah, he hadn't bothered to open that one yet. Charlie plucked it off the desk and strode over to hand it over to Ruby. "Thank you." She smirked suddenly and called over her shoulder, "Wow Weiss, Charlie did what I asked but not my own partner?"

"Hey! Don't drag me into this!" Charlie tried to cut his ties with the situation.

Weiss only sighed. "You're a pest, you know that?"

Ruby cackled in exaggerated, maniacal laughter and, when she had finally calmed down, opened her book up. "What page was it again?"

"Page three-nineteen."

An hour or so after that, Yang stumbled into the room. She saw everyone there and looked at Charlie. "Did they like the coat?"

"They approved," he answered with a quick glance up.

"Nice!" Yang walked off with a satisfied grin. She took a seat next to Blake. "So, what's everyone up to?"

"Reading assignment." Ruby grumbled.

"Oooh, I still need to do that." Yang raised her arm and deftly caught a book that was thrown at her. "That was aimed a little close to the face there, Weiss."

"Good," she huffed and returned to her textbook.

Yang flipped open her book and nudged Blake. "Hey, did you do this yet?"

"Already done," Blake replied.

"Probably on the day he assigned it, huh?" Yang asked and was answered by an almost imperceptible nod. "Of course."

Another silence came over the room. Five people sitting in a room, turning pages and ignoring each other. A odd state of affairs, though the back-and-forth was amusing to listen to while it lasted.

"Welp." Charlie slammed his book shut. "I'm gonna go walk around."

"Need someone with you?" Ruby offered.

"Nah, I'm sure you're busy," he said and moved towards the door. "I'll be around."

"Okay! Uh, stay out of trouble!"

* * *

Walking was, is, and always will be a kind of catharsis to him. Even though the fresh air might not do him any good, the peaceful scenery and the ability to wander with no particular destination was relaxing. Comforting even.

Charlie may have lost many things, but the capacity to admire his surroundings was still alive and well within him. The architecture of the academy was inspiring; the gardens complemented it well. He found himself walking through courtyards and weaving through yards and lawns. The twilight sky darkened the path and the light spilling out of windows cast shadows about gurgling fountains and vibrant flowers that hadn't closed up for the night. The whole picture was serene. While it didn't feel like home it did feel calm. Welcoming.

Such a peaceful place dedicated to the training of a new generation of warriors. Paradoxical? Maybe. Certainly contrasting. But Charlie could understand the need to keep the mind at ease. There was a death world waiting for them out there beyond the protection of the kingdom. And these students volunteered to stand against that. To become the sword and shield of civilization.

How idealistic. Almost like a fairy tale. But, he'd seen some of what they could do. The tools, skills and abilities they had; it was almost like magic.

"A class of warriors, specially trained in an arcane art to combat the forces of darkness. Sounds like a good story..." he mused.

Maybe he really was in a fairy tale world. Maybe this was his happy ending. A short, pointless existence then shuffled off to here. What had that Other said to him before he'd been put in his new body? There weren't any strings attached to this, not that he could recall. It felt so long ago, yet he knew it had only been a few days. Hardly any time at all; things were just happening so fast...

Charlie held his right hand in front of him and tried to will his Aura into existence. A hazy, green nimbus flickered to life but, finding it difficult to keep lit, sputtered away after a few seconds. Perhaps it came easier when he was in danger? Maybe his fight-or-flight response was still active, just not in a conventional sense. Electing to test that sometime later, he filed that particular notion away and thought about the concept of Aura in general.

Augmentation and protection. Competent use of Aura promised a plethora of benefits. An increase of strength and speed without the noticeable, physical changes it would be associated with. That last part had to be true. He had watched the girls fight; with their builds, he found it extremely hard to believe they could hit as hard as they did. Yet, it was so. Not that he doubted they weren't physically fit. Even without relying on their Aura, he was sure each of them would have been able to beat him up in his old life.

Aura was a wonderful thing. Kind of like magic. If that was the case, did that make Ruby and the rest magical girls? And, he thought with wry amusement, did that make him a magical boy?

This brought him back to an earlier thought. Maybe this was a fairy tale world. If that was so, would he really mind? He had already opted to accept any ridiculous thing he might see. He was on another world so anything was possible. A world of monsters and practical magic.

He cleared his mind of idle thoughts and focused on the path ahead of him.

He came to a T-intersection and, on a whim, looked up into the buildings around him. On his left and right, the windows had their blinds down or the rooms beyond them were dark and empty. The building in front of him however, top to bottom, had a glass curtain wall. He could make out a single, light-blonde haired woman standing at the third story, deftly tapping on an open scroll. Probably a staff member.

He didn't really pay much attention to her, other than gazing long enough to see her look up from her scroll and stare back at him behind a thin pair of glasses. Charlie looked back down and continued on his way.

It wasn't long after that he heard the clacking of heels coming up from behind him. A glance over his shoulder told him that it was the same woman approaching him. Charlie stopped and turned to meet her; looking over her appearance for first impressions.

White, long-sleeved, dress shirt and black, pencil skirt. Black, knee-high, high-heeled boots and matching leggings. Professional demeanor. Definitely a staff member. An odd detail that deviated from her otherwise normal business attire was a tattered, purple cape that hung behind her. Self-expression.

The woman stopped two yards short of him; probably giving him the same once over he gave her. She spoke, after a short moment. "I watched you in the forest today."

"Oh?"

She looked at him strangely and said, "You're really are a machine, aren't you?"

"Yes ma'am," he said with the formal address out of courtesy.

"May I?" she gestured to his hand which he silently held out for her. She grasped his wrist for a moment, then, brought out her scroll and held it up in front of him. After a few seconds she nodded and lowered it. "Incredible, you're generating an Aura. You're alive." Before he could respond she spoke again. "I saw that you were hit badly today."

He opened his coat and showed her the repair. "I'm fine now."

She nodded. "From what I understand, Team RWBY is taking care of you?"

"As ordered by Headmaster Ozpin, yes."

A pause and eyes slightly widening. "Did he say exactly why he ordered a freshman team to supervise you?" she said with slight irritation in her voice.

"No ma'am."

"I see." She squeezed her eyes shut in a clearer sign of irritation. The woman looked about ready to turn and leave before she looked at him and asked him plainly, "What is your name?"

"Charles Flater. Call me Charlie. And you ma'am?"

"Professor Goodwitch. I... need to go now."

"Goodbye then, professor."

Goodwitch nodded, turned around and left.

He watched her until she was out of sight before relaxing. He hadn't even realized he was standing straight at attention. It was probably for the best though. Goodwitch struck him as the disciplinarian type.

That made him chuckle. He had used short, polite sentences and his posture had straightened up. Not that he had bad posture to begin with...

The point was, was it just an ingrained courtesy? Or, perhaps he really did still have a fear response; just an unconventional one.

* * *

"Ozpin!" Glynda Goodwitch stormed into the headmaster's office, forcefully calling his name as soon as the elevator doors parted.

Professor Ozpin, sitting in his chair, looked up from the stack of paperwork he had been filling out. "Ah, Glynda. What brings you up here at this hour?" he asked when she stopped in front of his desk.

"Would you mind telling me what this is?" she opened her scroll and showed an image to Ozpin. The headmaster gingerly took the offered device in one hand and grasped his ever present coffee mug in the other. The image on screen was of a very familiar android, though now wreathed in a new long coat. How quaint. Off to the side of the image was a graph illustrating the numbers of a passive aural output.

Ozpin took a long drink from his mug. Glynda could see that the contents of it were still steaming hot, yet the headmaster seemed intent on finishing the cup in one go. He was looking at her an unnervingly neutral expression the whole while too. When he finally finished after a few seconds of awkward silence, he gently set the mug down on his desk and exhaled deeply. "I see you've met Charlie."

Glynda nodded slowly with narrowed eyes. "I was hoping you could explain why a miracle of technology is prancing around the school with virtually no oversight."

"RWBY was assigned."

"With respect sir, that's not exactly ideal for something like this."

"I know."

"Then why, haven't you done anything about it."

"Oh, I have been keeping surveillance on him so don't you worry about that," he assured her. "And as to why I haven't 'done anything', My plan was to watch and wait."

"That's unlike you," Glynda stated plainly.

"I know. But it wasn't entirely my choice either."

"...What do you mean?" she asked with a slight tilt of her head. She had a feeling she wouldn't like the answer.

"Over a week ago, I had a conversation with an unusual man..." he began and told her everything. How he had appeared out of nowhere, his request, his words of warning, the vision. Even how he had disappeared without a trace afterwards. Everything. He trusted Glynda. If anyone had a right to know the truth as he knew it, it would be her. She had sat down at some point during his explanation and at the end of it, with an exasperated sigh said, "Why am I only hearing about this now?"

"I felt that there wasn't enough information to share," he said glumly. "Now you know almost as much as I do."

The two sat quietly for some time. Ozpin leaned back into his chair and stared at the ceiling. "There has been one detail about this that has been bothering me," he said and when he saw Glynda paying attention, he continued. "The man said that what he had done was inhumane. That got me thinking. So, I went through the usual channels and asked around if there had been any unusual deaths or injuries reported in the city recently. I found something... interesting." He brought out his scroll and pulled up a file for Glynda. It was a news column (a few months old) reporting the sudden death of a certain Ivory Kelsch, the owner of a well-to-do electronics store.

"The coroner's report is citing her cause of death as 'catastrophic brain hemorrhage,'" he stated. "It's in the article, how a witness said she was leaking blood from every opening in her head before falling to the ground. She was dead when the paramedics arrived." Ozpin paused, then continued. "What the article doesn't mention is the full extent of the damage. Catastrophic is right, Glynda. The coroner took pictures and I requested that they be forwarded to me. Take a look."

Glynda opened an attached file and felt the color drain from her face. "Good grief..."

"Almost every blood vessel in her brain burst near simultaneously," Ozpin shook his head in pity. "Apparently, the brain ruptured with enough force to crack the skull open."

Glynda set the scroll down on the table and wearily put a hand to her face. "What's the official statement and how does this relate?"

"No official statement to the public. On the records it's being labeled as an isolated incident and besides a small handful of concerned voices - all of them in the medical field - no one was really paying attention."

"Of course," she remarked scathingly.

"And as to how this relates, have a look." Ozpin took up his scroll again to pull up another file and handed the device back to Glynda.

"This... is the last will of Ivory Kelsch?"

"Indeed. Read through the second paragraph; you'll see what I mean."

Glynda's eyes darted around the screen as she read through the document. "...I hereby direct that the artistically altered Consolidated Computer Systems Processor, Model RA-091, which I have labored on for some time and stored in a small cardboard box on the shelf above my bed, be sold to the first interested customer at reasonable cost..."

"I spoke with a few people who knew her," Ozpin said when Glynda finished reading. "They said that she wasn't herself the last few months before her death. She became lifeless at work and reclusive; always tinkering on a 'special project' at home. I asked about the processor and found out they already sold it. When I asked who they sold it to, you know what they told me?"

Ozpin had a thin, tired smile on his lips when Glynda nodded for him to continue. "The clerk who was working that day said he sold it to, and I quote, 'some teenaged girl with a red cloak and silver eyes'. Imagine my surprise when I realized that sounds exactly like one of my students..."

Professor Goodwitch looked stunned, so Ozpin continued. "Tell me Glynda, how much would you wager that if we stripped Mister Flater down we would find an 'artistically altered processor'?"

She shook her head. "A fool's wager, sir."

"Exactly."

"Are you saying that your mystery messenger somehow managed to put a soul, a soul not native to this world I might add, into a specially designed vessel built by Ivory Kelsch, who probably learned how to make it from him and was probably killed after it was completed?"

Ozpin nodded gravely.

"But why kill her? How? And so unorthodox?"

The headmaster looked pensive for a moment before speaking again. "I don't think her death was intentional. I know it seems as if she would have been killed to protect the knowledge, but I do not think that is the case here."

"What are you thinking?"

"Well, we're talking about a soul repurposed to animate an otherwise non-living system. I would imagine any device capable of housing such a thing would be rather intricate. At least, complicated enough to necessitate tools not readily available on the open market. Since no such tools were found in her residence, she'd have to have done it by hand. Which is impossible. Unless she had help."

"Then someone else must have supplied the tools and took them back when she died."

"I don't think that's likely. Any machine capable of working with that kind of accuracy would almost certainly be large. Too large to move quickly or quietly."

"Then the only other option is if she had a more than human hand-eye coordination. But, as far as I could see from the files you showed me, she didn't have an especially active aura to account for something like that; it likely hadn't even manifested in any significant way."

"No, you're right." Ozpin ducked under his desk and pulled out an ancient looking tome. He dropped it on the desk with a short, loud thud. "But what if wasn't her Aura that gave her the capability?" He pushed the tome towards Glynda and gestured towards the bookmark sticking from near the middle of it. She flipped the weighty thing open and read the header at the top of the page. "Possession?"

"Psychokinetic control, yes."

"You... think he took control of her and used her to build the device? Why not do it himself?"

"I don't know," Ozpin admitted. "It doesn't make sense, yet that's what seems to have happened. Something must have made him physically incapable of building it himself."

"Perhaps it was simple sadism."

"Maybe. But I'm doubtful. He seemed to have regretted it. There must have been a good enough reason to justify it."

Glynda stared into the book for a few more minutes with a thoughtful expression before she closed the tome and pushed it back towards Ozpin. Crossing her arms, she asked him plainly, "What do we do?"

"We don't have any solid information to act upon. We'll do the only thing we can do: we'll watch and wait, and act when the time is right."

* * *

After completing a few circuits around the area, Charlie walked back to the dormitories. As he approached the building however, he heard a strange sound coming from above him. The sound was like two pieces of metal clashing against each other. He looked up; it seemed to be coming from the roof.

Just then, something flew up in the air, catching the soft glint of moonlight. The silver streak planted itself in the dirt near him, making itself out to be a blue-hilted longsword. Charlie looked up at the roof and saw Jaune and Pyrrha peering down from the edge. He pulled the sword out of the ground and held it up to them. "This yours?"

"Yeah!"

"I'll be right up then," Charlie said without a second's hesitation and started making his way into the dorm building.

"Wait!" Pyrrha called down to him. "Just throw it!"

"What? Are you sure?"

"Don't worry! I'll catch it!"

She seemed confident. Fine, he had no reason not to believe her.

"Alright then, here goes!" He sent the sword spinning upward in an overhand throw. He was surprised when it managed to clear the roof and keep going for another 12 or so feet before slowing and falling back down. Pyrrha had been tracking its ascent and was standing right under it with a single outstretched arm. In violation of common sense, the sword landed perfectly, hilt first, in her hand.

"Wow, nice catch."

"Yes, thank you!"

Jaune and Pyrrha disappeared over the edge of the roof and the sound of clashing metal started back up shortly after. With a shake of his head, Charlie went inside the building to find something else to do.

* * *

There were a few places he hadn't went in to on his previous exploration of the dormitories and one of those places was the basement. And standing at the threshhold of the room, he could tell that he was going to like the basement.

The basement had apparently been converted to a common room of sorts. Clusters of cream colored lounge furniture dotted the room alongside five-piece table sets. A billiard table was set in the far left corner and a kitchenette tucked in the near right one. The room was mostly empty at the moment, which Charlie found odd. It wasn't that late.

The room was mostly empty. In the far right corner, an ultra flat-screen TV was mounted on the wall with a few boxes set on black shelves wired in to it. The screen was currently displaying a video game; a 3D, side-scrolling shooter game. Kind of like Contra, but prettier. A small couch and a recliner were positioned in front of the screen. The couch was vacant but the recliner appeared to be occupied. Charlie crept up toward the only sign of life in the room and watched the screen silently.

The game was a real bullet hell. He watched, mesmerized by the rainbows of color for several minutes before the player character on screen blew up in a terrific explosion after being struck simultaneously by dozens of objects.

"Ugh, son of a..." the annoyed curse tapered off as the person sitting on the recliner stood up and covered his face with his hands in frustration.

"Are you gonna keep going or...?" Charlie decided to ask.

The person, probably a student, let his hands fall from his face and stared at Charlie. "When did you get there?"

"A few minutes ago." Charlie stared back and gave him the look over. Dark-brown eyes, short, combed-back, black hair and all black t-shirt and pants.

He nodded as if it had been the most obvious thing in the world. "Oh." Flopping back down into the recliner he picked up the controller he had been using and restarted the game. He lasted a few minutes before exploding again.

"There's just too damn many of them!" he threw his hands in the air and raged.

"That was a lot of fliers," Charlie agreed. Who in the heck designed those thing anyway? They looked like fleshy helicopters with deformed faces. Ew. "You need to either dodge or shoot more."

"Or both. Both is good." The student tried again and lasted a little longer before failing again. He sat there silently sitting in the chair for a good minute; blankly staring.

"You busy?" he suddenly asked Charlie.

"No."

"This game is co-op, wanna help?"

"...Eh, why not? Where's the controller?"

"Over by the TV." Charlie found it and grasped it in both hands. There wasn't anything special about the controller itself; it looked like the very generic image of a modern gamepad.

Sitting on the couch, Charlie found the student staring at him. "What?"

"Sick armor, dude. Did you make that?"

It occurred to Charlie that this guy hadn't noticed he was a robot yet. He considered just telling him outright but, he really didn't feeling like answering the flood of questions that was sure to follow. "You could say that, yes." The game started up, this time with two avatars: a green one accompanying the blue one.

"I've never seen you around here before. You new or something?" the student asked, his blue avatar weaving hiding behind a rock for cover.

"Yes, just arrived a few days ago." Charlie's green avatar jumped and threw a grenade to scatter the enemy.

He cast Charlie a curious glance. "What's up with the faceplate?"

"Personal expression. Long story."

The dark-haired student nodded in response but remained focused on the game and didn't press the matter. They didn't have any real conversation after that besides small talk and letting the other know when they found a neat power up.

"...Found spread shot..."

"...I got a beam gun..."

"Nice, nice, nice..."

"One in the corner."

"I see 'em, I see 'em."

"It's raining bombs."

"I've never gotten this far before..."

"Of course there's a giant spider!"

"Torch it, torch it, torch it!

"Spiders do not have that many legs!"

It went on like this for a long while; dying and retrying a half-dozen times before they finally made it to the final stage.

"So wait, we shoot the second node, then the third node, then the first node?

"Looks like. Twenty three is number one."

"Awww, yeah!"

"Almost there, almost there, almost there..."

"Dodge to you left, no your other left!"

"Jump and duck and dash and sprint..."

"Just a few more shots!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNND BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!" he jumped from the recliner in celebration. "YEAH! THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN' ABOUT!"

A high score screen came up and was asking for a name to input. "We made it into the top ten! YEAH!" Using the joysticks he spelled out "Jett", presumably his name. "Hey, uh, what's your name?"

"Call me Charlie."

"Okaaaaayyyyy, how do I spell that?

"Cee, aitch, ay, ar, el, ai, ee."

Inputting letters by joystick takes time, but it eventually got done.

"Let's see who we passed... ah ha! Suck it Coco and Velvet!" Above the name plate that belonged to whoever those two were, a new plate labled "Jett and Charlie" appeared.

"That was a good playthrough."

"Yeah I-" A ringtone interrupted the presumably named Jett, who pulled out a scroll and read a message. "Ah, gotta go; team lead' calls. See you around... Charlie right?"

"Yes. And same to you, Jett."

* * *

Well-worn ivory.

Polished ebony.

His metal hands clinked over the keyboard of the piano and tried a randomly chosen key. There was no fault that he could tell in the sound. Evidently it was a well tuned instrument.

Besides the basement, there was another room within the dorm building proper that, while he knew existed, he hadn't gone into: the kitchen. While Beacon did have a cafeteria serving food at reasonable intervals, those students who could not make it at those times or preferred a more personal touch to their meals could use the kitchen. Poking through a few cabinets and the refrigerator found them mostly empty besides a few basic ingredients and some bottles of water, respectively. Students probably provided their own ingredients then.

Connected to the kitchen was a small dining room with two tables and chairs for eight with each of them. Placed against the back wall between the two tables was a piano; a relatively small, glossy-black, upright type.

The clock in the corner of his field of view told him that it was getting pretty late. But, he didn't need or want to sleep anyway so there was no reason to head back just yet. Instead, Charlie checked the bench and pulled up on the seat; the cushion sliding up on hinges. Inside the bench was a haphazard arrangment of thin music books and sheet music. He perused through the articles until he found a basic instructional booklet. Setting the book down on the stand, he flipped to the first page.

"I wonder..."

* * *

Weiss closed her binder. "And done. How far are you now?" she said while looking over her shoulder.

"I got... two more pages to go," Ruby answered. That was faster than Weiss expected, but maybe she ought to give her team leader a higher expectation.

"Three," was Yang's terse response.

"Alright. I'm going to get a water bottle, I'll be back."

"Okay. Find Charlie while your out!" Ruby asked her as she stepped out of the room. Weiss lifted her arm in acknowledgement before closing the door behind her and marching off.

A short walk to the kitchen fridge later, Weiss leaned in and grasped a bottle. She was about to unscrew the cap when a sound started and got her attention. It was rhythmic, definitely musical and it was coming from the other room. Poking her head around the corner, she was surprised to find what looked like Charlie sitting at the piano and playing. He was playing slow; the song itself sounded hopeful, yet a solemn tune all the same.

Weiss found herself leaning into the door frame when he stopped playing after a short minute. Charlie glanced in her direction. "How long you been there?"

"Not long," she said and moved closer. "That sounded lovely. Does it have a name?"

"_Amazing Grace_. Old song."

Weiss got close enough to look over his shoulder and see what was on the sheet music in front of him. It definitely wasn't what he was just playing. "You can play the piano?"

"Yeah, uh, my mom taught me how. I've just been out of practice for a long time."

"Mmm..." Weiss looked around the room and, upon spying a clock, decided she had time to spare. "Could you move over a bit?" she asked and slid onto the bench. He obliged, but even with his blank face she could tell he was giving her an odd look.

"Okay, but what are-" He was silenced as Weiss quickly and flawlessly ran her hands up and down the piano.

"You can play, then?"

"Of course. It was expected of me."

"I see. I'm gonna go out on a limb here but, can you sing as well?" She nodded silently; her fingers still dancing across the keyboard. "Wow. The heiress to a wealthy name, a fencer, a pianist and a singer! You're like the very picture of high society."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

He sat and listened to her play for a time. The song was slow and had a kind of deep melancholy to it; fading out to silence at the end. Weiss sat and stared at the keyboard for a moment. "_Mourning Court_ by Ambrose."

"A bit crestfallen, don't you think?"

"Yes. It was written over a century ago in honor of a much loved duke."

They both sat in silence for an imperceptible moment before Weiss clapped her hand together. "Enough of that, how about something fun? You know any good songs?"

"I might," Charlie thought. "Well, okay, yeah I got one. Listen and watch okay? This one's called _Heart and Soul_..."

* * *

A few hours later, Weiss returned to the dorm room alone. The only one left awake was Blake, predictably reading a book by candlelight; snug and cozy in her blankets.

"You're back," Blake acknowledged her. "Where's Charlie?"

"Oh, he's in the dining room," Weiss replied. "Said, he didn't want to sleep yet. I can't exactly force him and its not like he needs it, so I just left him alone."

Blake nodded. "I hope Ruby'll okay with it..." At the mention of her name, Ruby perked up from a light sleep.

"Uhp, wub, wha...? What? Oh! Weiss! You're back! Where's Charlie?"

The white-haired girl repeated herself in a slightly different way. Ruby looked worried. "But, shouldn't he stay here for the night..?"

"Ruby, you're tired," Weiss reasoned. "He's a grown man, well, robot. He'll be fine, I'm sure of it. Now just go back to sleep.

Ruby tiredly nodded. "Yeah, sleep is... good point. Good night." She laid back down in her bunk and rolled herself into a blanket.

"Good night, Ruby," Weiss whispered quietly enough that only herself and, unbeknownst to her, Blake heard it.

* * *

**Author's Note: Well. An update cycle over a month long AND my shortest chapter yet? My god, what is happening to me? ****Short answer is that I haven't found the time nor the inspiration to write recently because of real life priorities.**

**Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. My personal opinion is that it's a bit... meh. The purpose of many of these scenes was to sort of try and highlight Charlie's humanity.**

**On another note, if you ever wondered what happened to the store owner that was referenced in chapter one... well, now you know. **

**The short scene with Pyrrha and Jaune... if you're a RWBY fan, you know exactly why his sword landed perfectly in her hand! Related: I think Charlie and Pyrrha could have an awesome joint-attack. Think man-sized railgun slug.**

**Who is Jett you may ask? He is a stock side character that may or may not be used again. Funnily enough, it was supposed to be Sky Lark in that scene but I changed it for... reasons.**

**It has been established in the show that Weiss can sing. She can play the piano as well in this story. Charlie can play the piano. I think you know where this is going.**

**Still to do: Give the known professors screen time, show Yang more love, and jump start the second half of this story arc!**

**As always, comments, criticism and suggestions are welcome. Seriously, let me know what you think!**


	7. Chapter 7

Technically, Still Human CH.7 (RWBY)

Charlie realized far to late that he was locked out of the room for the night. He could always knock until someone woke up and let him in, but that would be rude. It wasn't vitally important that he go inside anyway and it would keep quiet questions better left unsaid, so he elected to wait the night outside.

It was by this reasoning that Charlie found himself standing on a landing pad. The pad was situated at the top of a cliff with several waterfalls around it cascading down into a wide river. The main reason he chose this spot however, was the panoramic view it offered of the city of Vale.

Vale looked exactly as he expected a city at night to look. High-rise buildings dotted with the lights of late night workers and a trickle of road traffic moving through the streets. If anything, it was one of the most normal things he had seen here so far.

The wind howled and Charlie swayed slightly in it.

_"It sure is windy tonight"_, he thought. He looked behind him when an odd sound alerted him, which turned out to be a tumbleweed skidding across the pad. A strange thing to see here, considering the climate.

It went on like this for a few hours. It was an interesting thing to him to be able to stand out in what he was sure was a cold night. When the wind picked up, he could feel it but it wasn't cold or unwelcoming; it was just a feeling pushing against him. Occasionally, it would blow hard enough that he could hear it whistle through his audio receptor.

Another tumbleweed bounced by. This one falling off the edge and into the water.

Charlie looked over the edge. It was a long way down. If he fell, would he survive? Was he even waterproof? He wouldn't float, of that he was certain.

A strange feeling came to him then. The closest thing he could compare it to was hair standing on end but that was inaccurate for obvious reasons. Whatever it was, it set him on edge. He looked to his left. He looked to his right. He even looked up. But it wasn't until he heard another scraping sound that he looked behind him.

In a split second, he took it in. It was a tumbleweed and a big one at that; perhaps five and a half feet in diameter. He dismissed it as non-threatening and stood still, anticipating it to simply bounce off of him.

He should have been concerned.

It was only later that he learned of a species of tumbleweed that grew in the area called the Tumbling Stone. The seed dispersal strategy of the plant was to grow a large, mostly hollow ball that was strengthened by the minerals the plant took in from its roots. When the ball was mature, the stem it was attached to would dry out making it very easy for the wind to pluck it from its place. Although light for its size, the Tumbling Stone was as hard as its name suggested. They were quite infamous in certain parts of the world due to the minor, yet amusing danger they posed to unwary travelers; knocking fully grown adults off of their feet when they collided on particularly blustery days and nights.

Needless to say, Charlie was not expecting the amount of force the unassuming bouncy thing exerted. The tumbleweed shattered on contact and forced him back two steps. So focused was he on the tumbleweed that he forgot that he was standing near the edge of a landing pad until his second step found nothing but empty air.

It was too late to correct his mistake; the cruel laws of inertia and gravity ran their course. Falling backwards and head first, Charlie tumbled off of the landing pad and down into the water below. He would have shut his eyelids if he had any to brace for the coming impact. But he didn't, so he was forced to watch the surface of the water approach far faster than it had any right to.

He hit the water face first. Like many things for him recently, the feeling wasn't painful; just a simple register that yes, he had just touched down in a body of water. As he sank towards the bottom, Charlie reoriented himself the right way up and felt his feet sink into the riverbed.

He stood stock still for a moment, hardly believing that he was still alive underwater. He took a step forward, exerting some effort to move his feet to overcome the suction-like force of the sand in the floor.

Charlie decided that he kind of liked being underwater. Sure, it was kind of dark and his line of sight was severely reduced but no one could follow him down here without scuba gear. Without the need to breathe, he could stay underwater indefinitely or at least until he needed to refuel. Of course, he was assuming he was completely waterproof and not just water resistant. If the latter was the case, he should probably find his way back to dry land as soon as he could. Turning around, he waddled back toward the cliff face.

After some time searching, he managed to find a set of wooden pillars; presumably the supports for a pier of some kind. Managing to find a grip, Charlie slowly shinnied up the pole until he breached the surface of the water. He scrambled up onto the pier and, besides his coat being thoroughly soaked with water, Charlie was no worse for wear.

Stripping his coat off, Charlie wrung out the water as best he could before putting it back on and making his way towards the other end of the pier and the path that lead back up the cliff. After a short trek up and navigating through some winding tunnels, he found himself well within academy grounds.

It was still late at night or, very early in the morning depending on how it was looked at, and Charlie still had nothing to do.

_"Well, my coat is still damp. Maybe I should find someplace to dry it?"_

* * *

The soul is a strange yet beautiful thing.

Coiled up inside multiple dimensions and existing simultaneously both within and without the prime physical world, it truly was not something most mortal minds could easily comprehend.

He did not have such a problem. As a being born of the aether, perceiving geometries that others would call impossible was a natural ability. Describing such geometries in a human tongue however, was something he did not have an affinity for. But, these idle thoughts were a minor distraction that he cast aside so he could better focus on his current task.

"Parasite, I grow tired of this. Where are you?"

A nearby plane shimmered and he set forth a tendril of pure destructive intent. However, it found no purchase and subsequently faded.

They had been going at this for some time now. For how long was anyone's guess; it was easy to lose track of the flow of time in places like this. It could have been as little as a few seconds on the physical world or as much as several years. He used a moment to reorient with the stream of time.

Less than a day. Good. He still had much time to use.

"Feeder! Speak to me! Do you not have anything to say for yourself?"

A whisper that seemed to come from everywhere replied. "Leave me alone."

"I can not do that," he chuckled darkly. "But I can make you an offer. You belong neither here nor anywhere else. Why not come peacefully?" I am sure that few of your kind that remain in captivity will be glad to have you."

There was no response. He was not expecting one anyway, having already fully committed himself to destroying this creature. So, he wandered.

As his prey had only managed to attach itself to this soul and not burrow deeply as of yet, he had been tracking it over the 'surface'. It was an elusive thing, of that he could give it credit; he could tell where it had been but not where it was or where it was going. But that was going to change. He had been holding off on using Charles's consent, hoping that he could slay the parasite without resorting to such desperate measures. As the hunt went on though, it became increasingly clear what he already knew deep inside: this thing would not be caught unless forced to stop.

Looking around and finding his immediate proximity clear of anything overtly suspicious, he brushed a tendril against the surface of the soul he had determined to protect. Things like these can not be described perfectly in any language of man, but if he had to try he would say that its surface was smooth and slate gray, like a rock.

No... that wasn't quite right. More like... steel gray, like a slab of metal.

It was not usually his business to get involved in affairs like this, but instinctively he knew that this effect could not be natural. Perhaps it was simply an effect of the body it currently drove? Or purposefully altered? Whatever it was, it was not his area of expertise. He was only a Watcher and as an Watcher he did not fully understand how the mechanisms of the engines of life worked, only that they did and the logical pathways thereof.

The surface responded to his touch and intent. A single square of it receded and fell away, forming a small and geometrically perfect hole. Then the hole widened, forming square segments that sank and disappeared along its edge. Then it happened again. And again. And again, and again, and again until finally it was a gaping, perfectly square hole hundreds of times its original size. And down below in the abyss was frothing ocean of pure, viridian energy.

He had already been down there of course, having been invited into the 'green room'. But now, the gates were wide open for anything to come in. Of that, he was counting on.

He waiting for what seemed like an eternity. His perception, being what it was, was aware of everything around him from the unmoving slate, the void above and every ripple in the sea below. So it came as no surprise when he instantly picked up his prey's movement. What did come as a surprise was how quickly it was moving. Faster then he expected and difficult to believe. But he supposed that is what desperation did to things.

A shining comet of orange, gluttonous, want came hurtling down; splashing down in the turbulent sea like such an astronomical object would. It effects were immediate.

Where it touched down, the sea of energy stilled and changed it hue from green to orange and branches of darker color slithered deeper into the depths.

"You work quickly." He shot down and dove into the sea after it. "But I work faster still."

* * *

Jaune went up the stairwell to the roof

It was mid-afternoon and the class he'd usually have at this time was cancelled by the professor so he decided to use this free period to get a little practice in. Sure, later tonight he'd meet Pyrrha up here but as she told him, he should try to squeeze practice time whenever he could wherever he could. Practice makes perfect after all.

He did't bother to change from his uniform into his combat clothes because he was only going to be practicing techniques on empty air with his sword and shield for a short while. The roof was a good place to do this; it had a nice view and no one went up there.

The roof was empty save for a long-coated figure standing at the edge. Jaune was about to say something but the figure turned around, revealing a green-visored faceplate that was starting to become familiar.

"Jaune," he said.

"Ah, uh, hey Charlie."

"Are they looking for me?"

"Who's looking for- oh right. No, no I'm here by myself."

Charlie simply nodded and resumed staring out into the distance. _"Nope, that's not creepy at all,"_ Jaune thought. Nevertheless, he went on to do what he came up here for; drawing his sword and expanding the sheath into full heater shield form. He always kind of liked the sound it made when it did that, the sound of metal sliding over metal. When his father first started teaching him how to use it, he remembered thinking how delicate it looked. But now he knew better and found its heft reassuring. It was old but solidly built; it would probably last another few lifetimes.

He looped his hand through the grip of the shield and brought his sword up. He glanced at the cross guard for a brief moment, reading the words inscribed in the center: "Crocea Mors". He'd been told that it meant "Yellow Death" in some dead language, which he always found cool. It was an expectation to live up to. Hopefully one day he'd be able to.

With that in mind, he started his exercise. It was a simple drill intended to help speed up his strikes. Cut right, cut left, thrust forward, repeat. Easy. Pyrrha sometimes had him on a timer, challenging him to swing as many times as he could within a minute. She'd stop the clock and berate him too if it looked liked he wasn't putting enough effort into it.

He really did appreciate her help though. Under her guidance, even he could see the improvement being made. She was a world-class fighter who'd won a few championships back in Mistral, which was impressive from what he'd heard. Apparently she was something of a celebrity in that scene, but she didn't act like it. She was so nice and so skilled yet understanding and humble. She didn't have the kind of overbearing presence of a celebrity either. And he'd met a celebrity at a convention before too (Spruce Willis, action movie star!) so he would know what that felt like! But, Pyrrha was easy to talk to. She was just... a great partner and a really good friend.

Absolutely terrifying to spar with though.

The thought put a grin on his face and the only thing he could do about it was to keep up the drill.

As Jaune practiced his craft, Charlie had turned around to watch him. Of all the crazy weapons he'd seen on Remnant so far, Jaune choice was the most orthodox. The only thing transforming or otherwise questionable about it was the sheath that doubled as a collapsible shield. But it was sturdy enough for its intended use, of that he had witnessed in the forest yesterday. If the knights of old had anything like it during their day, Charlie was sure they would have loved it.

After a while, Jaune finally noticed Charlie observing him and stopped his drill.

"No, don't stop just because someone's watching."

"Well, yeah. It's kinda awkward."

"So me standing here silently with my back turned towards you is any less awkward?"

Jaune was about to say something but Charlie interrupted him. "Never mind, don't answer that." Jaune made a wry smile at that as Charlie stepped away from the edge and closer to him.

"So... I was talking with Ruby earlier this morning," Charlie began. "I was wondering what I should be doing exactly when I'm not around her or the other three answering questions or doing whatever. She told me I should practice my 'aura control'. When I asked what that meant, Yang just told me to 'punch something or get punched.' Apparently, they want me to test how well I can mitigate damage to myself. So, I've been standing on this roof for a few hours now wondering what exactly I should do. I've thought about jumping off, but I don't want to go that far just yet."

"But as I was watching you practice, I had an idea," Charlie continued. "I was told to punch something. I've avoided punching walls because, well, you know, property damage. But what about something designed to take hits?" Charlie gestured towards Jaune's shield.

"You... want to punch my shield?"

"Yeah man. And you can bash me back too."

Jaune thought about it. It's not like anything could go wrong, right? What's the worst that could happen? Besides, he had time to spare anyway.

"Sure, okay let's do it."

"Right on." Charlie took a step back and reared his fist as Jaune brought up his shield. When he gave a nod, Charlie threw his punch.

The sound of the fist striking his shield was like a hammer blow on a slab of metal. Loud. The force behind the blow caused Jaune to take a step back to absorb it. He wasn't expecting him to hit that hard and adjusted his stance accordingly.

"Okay, now bash me."

"Uh..."

"C'mon don't think about it, just smash right in."

He complied. With a quick lunge forward he performed a powerful shield bash. The blow didn't move Charlie, but he did waver from it.

"It stopped like half an inch before it landed. Still felt it though," Charlie reported. "Let's try again."

"Okay." Jaune brought his shield up again.

They repeated this another dozen times. Jaune became used to absorbing the force of the punches and managed to push Charlie back a step on the last few bashes.

"I definitely felt that. Looks like my aura stopped working."

"It's just depleted. You'll just need to rest a few minutes."

"How am I supposed to know when it'll be ready again? I don't feel tired."

As an answer, Jaune shrugged and leaned against a nearby wall. "Just give it like, five minutes."

"Okay." Charlie crossed his arms and turned his gaze away. A minute later he spoke up.

"You know I've been meaning to ask, what is that big tower over there?" He pointed away from the school and at the edge of the city skyline. A single tower stood above the rest there, a massive, white cylinder supported by flying buttresses and topped with several equally massive antennas and parabolic dishes.

"Oh, that's the CCT. Stands for Cross Continental Transmitter, I think." Yesterday, he did say he came from another world. _"Maybe they don't have something like that there?"_ Jaune thought.

"Christ, it's huge." Charlie said and took a thoughtful pose. "I suppose it makes sense though. You can't build relays out in the wild; the Grimm would just chem 'em up. I wonder how it works..."

"Beats me. Wireless is pretty much magic to me," Jaune replied.

"Heh, same. Though, if they're worried about Grimm damaging transmitters, they should just bounce a signal off a satellite. I'd like to see a Beowolf try to chew on a transmitter in orbit."

Jaune blinked at that. "What?"

Charlie turned to look at him and, after a prolonged pause, he said, "Now that I think about it... I don't remember reading about any space programs in the history books, I just kind of assumed it. Interesting to know."

"Whaddya mean 'space program'?" Jaune asked. "Are you telling me people from your world can go to space?"

"Sure, if you've got the money. It's mostly the realm of scientists and the military. It's way too expensive for the average person to get off of Earth."

"But have people been to other planets?" he asked with growing enthusiasm.

"The furthest the government ever sent a living person was the moon. They've managed to land unmanned rovers on other planets though. Like I said, expensive. Mind-mindbogglingly so."

"Wow... that's still so cool though! I wish we did that here."

"I'm sure the kingdoms of the world could if they were given a good enough reason. But right now, they're focused on making this world safe first. Can't go gallivanting off into the unknown if home isn't secure after all. I suppose that's what the Huntsmen are for."

Jaune nodded sagely at that. As an aspiring Huntsman, it would one day be his duty to help extend the reach of civilization. Maybe one day people could do awesome stuff like that. But there needed to be peace first. Well, more peace than there was now; there hadn't been a war in decades. Point is, the Grimm threat needed to be eliminated and the best people to do that were the Huntsmen and Huntresses. So in a way, by training to be a Huntsman he was helping pave the way to such an incredible end goal. It was inspiring; he could feel his spirits lift and he held his head just a bit higher.

Become a Huntsman, help end the Grimm and usher in a new era of even more peace and prosperity. To become a hero. Yeah, he liked the sound of that.

"Hey bud? You still there?"

Jaune cleared his head with a shake. "Yeah, yeah I'm still here."

"Good. Let's get back at it."

With a nod, he hefted his shield back up and stepped forward. "Okay, this time I want you to intercept my strike. Bash my hand while its coming in," Charlie said.

"If you say so."

They readied themselves and with a simple nod crashed into each other. However, there was a slight problem.

Jaune may be relatively unskilled, but the reserve of aura he could draw upon was staggering. It protected him like nothing else could.

Charlie struggled to manifest his aura. It would protect him, but not for long. He didn't know it yet, but five minutes was not nearly long enough for his aura to recover. It wasn't his fault though, he couldn't feel it like someone with a natural body could.

So when Charlie threw his aura-less punch as hard as he could and Jaune went to block it mid-throw with an aura-enhanced shield, some damage was to be expected.

Charlie's metal fist shattering like a sports car hitting a steel wall head on at 200 MPH was... unexpected.

Little pieces broke off into high-speed fragments; the pinky finger broke off entirely and the middle three were only held on by strands of wire. The thumb bent at an unnatural angle. Charlie steadied himself and stared at his broken hand intently then at Jaune who had his mouth agape and eyes wide.

"Well, shit."

* * *

Destruction is a simple art. Especially when one is surrounded by the very things they wish to destroy. All around him were the roots of corruption and all around did he destroy it.

It had finally stopped. The parasite had anchored and he had been hacking at it ever since. It was a tedious process though; every tendril springing from it had to be cut at the base then systematically destroyed in its entirety, lest it regenerate. Its propagation was slow, thankfully. The medium of the soul was resisting it, hindering it. If it were not, this would have been much more difficult. Perhaps impossible. But the rate at which he was damaging it and the rate at which it healed itself was three-to-one: every three corrupting roots he destroyed, only one replaced it.

Simple arithmetic. Soon, there would would be no more roots and soon it would have nothing to protect its core.. Victory was still far and it would be hard won, but it was in sight.

"Why do you hate me?" The message seemed to come from the same root he was targeting.

"We have already been through this, parasite. You are atrocious. You simply cannot be allowed to exist anymore. You don't have the right to."

"I have a right," it calmly stated.

"What? The right to exist? Your actions have long ago rendered that null and void."

"No. The right to struggle for life." The closest root suddenly sprung to life and flew towards him. The malicious contact was easily deflected and destroyed.

"There will be less pain if you would just die quietly." He continued his tedious work.

* * *

"So, you wanna to stay awake?" Ruby asked him, puzzled.

"Yeah, I want to see you do your thing." Charlie assured her.

"There's not going to be much to see. Your hand is a drop-in part. It'll be easy." She emphasized with the spare android hand she had acquired. The gray metal of its surface was still unpainted and exposed to the elements.

"Still, it'll be cool to watch."

"...Alright," she said after a breath. "Si' down then." Charlie pulled up a chair and did what he was asked of. Ruby dragged another chair from across the room and sat in front of him.

Just under an hour after he broke his hand on Jaune's shield, he had met the girls back at their dorm. The face Ruby made when she saw it was completely mortified and she immediately asked what had happened. He simply told her that, following her advice, he had punched a wall one too many times; carefully leaving Jaune's part in it out. That boy was gonna owe him.

Right after he had explained, Ruby took off to find a replacement and came back twenty minutes later, hand in hand, pun not intended.

Ruby rummaged through a toolbox she had set near her chair and brought out a small, cordless drill. After fitting it with a screwdriver bit she said, "Lemme see your hand."

Charlie extended his arm and with shocking speed Ruby removed a few screws, took off a pair of fasteners and popped his hand right out of its socket. She reversed the process, shoving his new hand into the socket, turning it until it audibly clicked, and screwing the fasteners back on.

"And done. Can you move it?"

"Well..." Charlie moved his arm around but the hand wasn't responding. Not even a finger twitch.

"Oh," Ruby sighed. "You probably need to restart or something. Here..." She began reaching around him and fishing for his power button but Charlie slipped out of the chair and out of her reach.

"Now, now hold on! Let me see if I can do it." He held out his working arm and frantically waved the other in an effort to move it.

"A restart would probably be a lot easier..." Ruby said, her eyes darting to and fro with the motion of his arm.

"Just... give me a second."

Ruby slid over to Charlie. "C'mon, it'll only take a second," she said and tried reaching around him again, but Charlie backed away.

"I'd rather not."

"Why...?"

"Because of... reasons?"

Ruby scrunched up her face in confusion. "Like what?"

Charlie held up his one working index finger and looked ready to speak. _"What kind of restriction is that? Not telling anyone? 'Interacting on hidden dimensions my ass!' "_ he internally lamented. "Would... you believe me if I said that I'm deathly afraid of the dark that comes with shutting down?"

"...No? It wasn't a problem before."

"Then, I got nothin'."

"Okay, so lets do the restart." She started moving towards him again but once again he back away from her, this time into a corner. _"Maybe I can tell her that a bad thing would happen. That should be vague enough, right?"_

Almost certainly to answer his question, a text box appeared in the corner of his field of view. _"A message from your Patron: Maybe. Safety concerns would dictate something even more vague."_

_"What? How are you doing that?"_

_"Your Patron dedicated a minuscule portion of its mind to answer questions such as these."_

_"That would have been good to know BEFOREHAND! Anything I CAN say to satisfy her questions?"_

_"Your Patron has no advice on how to deal with the current situation besides stalling and deflecting the conversation as best as you can. Run if you must."_

_"What kind of stupid terms are these anyway..."_

_"Your Patron admits that this was not the most ideal circumstance. Heeding its previous suggestions is critical at this very moment however because a complex removal operation is underway."_The text box disappeared and Charlie saw that Ruby was still waiting for a response. Evidently she hadn't been waiting for long; the pause for a mental conversation like that must have been barely perceptible.

"If I shut down, I have a feeling something unpleasant might happen," Charlie finally answered, apparently deciding to throw a some of his caution to the wind.

"Like what?

"Like... stuff." His head jerked in an involuntary twitch.

Ruby's wondering looked changed to one of concern. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah... yep, I'm... 100%" He looked around the room for sympathies. Yang cast him a bemused glance, as did Blake. And Weiss was standing by a desk doing something with a scroll...

Ruby cocked her head to the side then nodded thoughtfully with a hand rested under her chin. She suddenly stopped and narrowed her eyes. "Wait you're not telling me everything, are you?"

_"DING DING DING DING! GOT IT IN ONE!"_ he mentally shouted. "What makes you say that?"

"I dunno. You're just kind of acting weird. So, what's up?"

"Well..."

Charlie never managed to finish his sentence. His optics and lights abruptly shut off and he limply toppled over face first.

"There," Weiss suddenly said. Ruby wheeled around to face her partner. "What did you do?"

"I forced a shut down from your scroll. You knew you could do that, right?"

"Yeah, but I didn't want to force him," Ruby sighed.

"He was behaving erratically. It was for the best."

"I guess... start him up again and let's see if it worked."

Weiss nodded and tapped an icon on the scroll.

Nothing happened. She tried double tapping it.

Still no response. With worry etching her features now, she held down the icon.

"Ruby, it's not working from here."

"Hold on, lemme try using the actual button." Ruby knelt down at Charlie's side and pressed his physical power button, thinking for sure it would work.

It didn't.

Wide-eyed with shock, she stared back at Weiss. "Uh oh."

* * *

Charlie regained consciousness, once again in the Green Room.

"You did not even last a full day."

He searched frantically around until he found the source of the voice. The faceless, gray-hooded and robed figure was standing nearby, as far as he could tell.

"It wasn't my fault!" Charlie defended himself. "I knew Weiss was some what cold, but damn!"

"The parasite out there cares not whose fault it is," he stated matter-of-factly. "It's only care right now is you."

"Do I want to know why?"

"If your mind is as free as it is now, it will never be able to completely secure its hold over your soul and by extension your body. As long as you are free, you have a chance." The room shook furiously as he finished.

"What was that?"

"That would be the parasite trying to break in. It knows you are here."

"Can I stop it?"

The hood shook in a negative. "As everything is right now? No."

"So what can I do?" Charlie pressed for a better answer. The hood looked down for awhile; the shaking and pounding of the room growing louder and more intense.

"There... is one thing we can try," the hood finally said.

"I'll try anything at this point! Let's have it."

The hood floated towards a wall and beckoned him to follow. "As I said before, you have gone under a unique alteration; the full extent of which I am still trying to comprehend. There is one thing I have noticed, that may be helpful to us right now: your soul... can only be described as moldable."

"Moldable?"

"Like a piece of iron still hot from a blacksmith's furnace. It can and will take a shape if pounded into one."

"I... don't understand."

"You could fight the parasite. But, you will not be able to understand the environment in which it dwells. You will likely lose. So, change the environment. Fight it on your terms."

"How..?" Charlie didn't know where to even begin with that.

"Of that, I can be of assistance. Come closer." The hood waved for him to move.

"Alright," he said with no small amount of reluctance. "But what do you want me t-" his sentence was cut short by the hood shoving his arm into Charlie faster than he could think. The hood took his other arm and forced it through the wall.

"What... are... you doing?" It was hard to speak. His mind felt like it was being smothered by several thousand pillows.

"Taking knowledge stored in your mind and soul and imposing it onto the environment. In order to properly interact, the parasite will be forced to take a form that is congruent with this constructed field. It might be one entity, it might be many. Whatever form it takes does not matter, you will still be able to kill it." The hood lifted him towards the wall and started pushing him against it.

"Survive, Charles. I will bring help to you soon." The pressure on his back increased and Charlie could feel a part of himself start to flow through a hole smaller than the eye of a needle. He could barely groan in protest before disappearing completely through the hole with a sound like a high-powered vacuum.

* * *

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygodwhatarewegonnado?" Ruby was rocking back and forth in a fetal position on Weiss's bed.

"Dammit Weiss! Why did you have to do that!?" Yang was pacing in frustrated circles around the room.

"How was I supposed to know that would happen!?" Weiss yelled in objection.

"So, is he dead?" Blake whispered to no one in particular.

"Wejustkilledsomebody!" Ruby cried.

"You mean Weiss just killed somebody."

"Hey!"

Yang shook her head in disapproval. "Okay, everyone just chill out! Now think, what are we gonna tell Ozpin?

"Uh, he shorted out and nearly burned down the dorm!"

"Terrible idea Weiss!"

As Yang and Weiss bickered between themselves (with Blake making a few contributions), Ruby had been staring at Charlie's lifeless body and noticed something strange. "Um, guys?" she said but was ignored or unheard. "Guys?" she tried again with the same result.

"GUYS!" Ruby finally shouted. When all eyes in the room came to her she said, "Thank you," with an irritated huff.

"What is it, Ruby?" Blake managed to speak first.

"Look," she pointed at Charlie. "He's glowing."

And indeed he was. A wispy, bluish-white glow was emanating from all over his body.

"Why's he doing that?"

"Does it look like I know?"

Ruby began leaning over to touch it, but her sister stopped her.

"Don't touch it Ruby! I volunteer Weiss to touch it!"

"Hey! You can't volunteer for me!"

"You got us into this mess, so yeah I can!"

Rolling her eyes, Ruby ignored their arguing and moved in to poke Charlie. Her hand found no resistance, but the glow started to get brighter and began pulsating.

"What'd you do?" Weiss and Yang asked at the same time.

"Nothing! Nothing, I just... touched him."

The pulsing was getting faster and brighter, to the point where it was disorienting to look at. "Maybe we should get out of here," Weiss suggested.

"Yeah, Let's go with that..." Ruby started edging away from the scene but the pulsing suddenly stopped. A split second later, the glow gave off an incredibly bright flash. Ruby heard a thump on the floor and turned to see Weiss splayed out on the ground.

"Weiss? What's wrooooong...?" Yang trailed off before she too collapsed on the ground.

Ruby felt extremely tired all of a sudden and she didn't know why. "Blaaaake, are you feelin' this tooo?" she slurred and looked towards the raven-haired girl, only to see her slumped over and teetering uncomfortably close to the edge of her bed. Why was everyone falling asleep? It must have had something to do with that flash...

The last thing Ruby remembered thinking was how appealing the bed looked before giving in to the sudden, overwhelming fatigue.

* * *

She woke up with a start, hopped to her feet and surveyed her surroundings. Ruby, along with Weiss, Blake, and Yang, had awoken in a pitch black expanse. The other three were either still coming to or finding their bearings.

The place they found themselves in was strange. It was dark, but they could still see each other clearly as if they were in a brightly lit room. The world around them was empty and featureless, and as far as Ruby could tell the floor was perfectly flat.

"Where are we?" Weiss decided to break the silence.

"That, is an interesting question," a deep, unfamiliar voice answered her. The four of them searched around themselves until they spotted the source: a gray-hooded and fully robed figure. "Hello girls," he (presumably) said when they were all looking at him.

"Who are you?" Yang demanded and flicked her wrists to activate her gauntlets, only to find that they weren't there.

"There are far more important things to discuss than questions of identity," he stated. "To answer your first question _Weiss_," he said her name with a noticeable contempt, "welcome to the inner sanctum. A human soul. Specifically, your new friend's soul. Charles."

"Wat," Ruby oh so gracefully articulated.

The hood chuckled in earnest. "Indeed child! It is a complicated subject. Let us begin."

Blake took a step forward and managed to get a single syllable out before the hood raised a handless arm to silence her. "Your next question is going to be: why are we here? Yes? Yes, of course it is. Allow me to answer that: your friend, how can I put this simply? Ah yes, your friend caught something of a parasite back in the forest. Basically, it wants to eat his soul and imprison and or destroy his mind, possessing his body in the process. **I**, was actively trying to rectify this. The only thing I asked of him was that he does not fall. **Asleep**." the hood stared at Weiss.

"What?" she said and looked around to see her three friends staring at her too. "What!? How was I supposed to know!? He could have told us!"

"Not possible. Conscious worry in this case would only have made it worse; there was no way you could have known without further jeopardizing his safety. That is why you are not entirely to blame here."

"What kind of screwy reasoning is that anyway?" Yang said.

"I admit, this was not the best of circumstances but it was necessary for my work to fix him. As the saying goes 'mind over matter'. You would be surprised at the power of simple thoughts," he explained. "But I digress. You must want to know why I called you here." They nodded cautiously in affirmative. "Of course. I think from the beginning I knew this would happen, so I needed another plan when this one failed. But alas! There was no plan I could prepare without disengaging and leaving your friend to die. But, there was you." He pointed towards Ruby.

"Me?"

"All four of you. You are all fighters; your souls are strong and you seem to have some kind of concern for him. You can offer assistance and at this point you may be the only ones capable of saving his life. But are you willing?"

The four girls exchanged looks. "Do we even need to think about this?" Ruby asked them. "There's a life on the line! We're Huntresses, aren't we!?"

"In training," Weiss muttered.

"Same difference!" Ruby shouted back. "I put him together... so it's kinda my fault he's even here in the first place, so he's my responsibility! If you won't go then I'll go alone!"

Weiss raised her arms up defensively, surprised at her partner's zeal. "That's not what I meant! It's just... I don't know, are we ready?"

"If there's no other option, then we have to be. Even if we aren't we have to try."

Yang moved to her sister's side and patted her on the shoulder. "Can't let you go on your own. I got your back, little sis'." Ruby clasped her sisters hand and looked at Blake for her answer. "Blake?" The 'B' of RWBY was staring at the floor looking hesitant and conflicted. She brought her head up slowly and looked at Ruby in the eyes.

"C'mon Blake. We might not have known him for long, but Charlie's still a friend right?"

"A friend..." Blake nodded slowly. "A friend," she repeated, this time determination lighting a fire in her eyes. "Yeah, I'll go." Ruby smiled and pumped her fist and turned to look at her partner. "Weiss?"

The white-haired girl shook her head. "Do I have a choice?" she said, sounding exasperated but with the hints of a smile on her lips. "I'll come, even if it's just to keep you all from dying."

"Awww, Ice Queen does care."

"Shut it, Xiao Long."

They spun back around to face the hood. "There you have it," Ruby spoke for them. "We'll do it."

"Excellent. I did not think you would decline."

"Wait," Weiss interrupted. "What exactly do you need us to do anyway?"

"I expect you to do what you are learning to do and what you do best: fight."

They nodded. Of course, it was obvious. What else could they possibly help with?

"Wait, where's our weapons?" Ruby said. "Can't fight without them."

"Oh, about that," the hood answered. "You see, because of our current circumstances the parasite controls much of this soul. It was difficult enough to simply manifest you all here together and in one piece. Even more so with clothes! However, I did manage to manifest the tools of your trade somewhere but they are not... here. You will need to find them or make do with something else."

She grimaced at that. Not a good start. "Okay, so what about the field? What are we working in?"

"Nothing too different from what you are used to. In order to aid Charles in his survival, I imposed his desires, memories, and thoughts to shape the environment into a world based on those factors. It is fairly hospitable and should not present a problem."

The space they were in suddenly shook violently. "What was that?"

"It appears it knows I am up to something. We need to start now. Are you ready?"

"Yeah!"

"Yes."

"Let's go."

"Mmhmm."

"Very well." The hood slid off to the side and in its previous spot stood a tall, pure white rectangle. "Simply step through the portal and you will be on your way."

Ruby was going to step through it but decided to sate her curiosity first. She ran around and looked at the portal's side. "Huh, I always wondered." She had always seen portals in movies and shows and had noticed for a long time that they never showed them from their sides or rear. She leaned over to look at it from the back and found nothing there. Like, there wasn't anything there; she could see through it.

"What are you doing?"

"It's thinner than a piece of paper Weiss!" she said with a grin and ran through it from the back. "You can walk through it too!"

"I know a two-dimensional object in a three-dimensional space is amusing but child, we do not have time for this." The hood and robed figure berated her.

"Right, sorry!" The girl threw a lazy salute and disappeared through the doorway in a flash of white light.

"Argh! Ruby wait!" Yang sprinted after her sister. Blake shook her head and ran after her partner, leaving Weiss alone. She sighed heavily and stared at the empty sky. "The things I do for extra credit..."

"Indeed," the hood spoke to her as she marched towards the threshold. "I will provide support where I can. I am sure you all have many questions and I will be happy to answer what I can when this is over."

"I'm gonna hold you to that... you!" Weiss stumbled. Did this thing even have a name?

"Of course. Good luck to you Schnee. All of you. You will need it."

* * *

**Author's Note: Well folks, if you've stuck around this long, then welcome to the second half of this story arc. Sanity might be put on the back burner for awhile so be ready for that.**

**If the friend zone were an ocean, then at this point of the story call Pyrrha "Captain Nemo" '****cause she's twenty thousand leagues under it.**

**They never bring up a satellite or anything space related in RWBY so I'm running with that. After all, if you had communications satellites why would you need to build something like the CCT?**

**I'm trying to change up my style. Was there anything about the writing in this chapter that was noticeably different than others? Besides how I'm writing thoughts in italics and parentheses now. Also, how's the pacing? Is the story progressing too fast or too slowly? I need input people!**

**In other news I've recently got back into EVE Online and well... [DESIRE TO WRITE CROSSOVER INTENSIFIES]**

**Anyway... comments, criticism and suggestions are welcome. As always.**


	8. Chapter 8

Technically, Still Human CH. 8 (RWBY)

* * *

It was a strange feeling, to be squeezed out of an infinitesimally small hole and shoved to the ground. Charlie imagined this is probably what it felt like to be toothpaste or some other thing regularly squeezed out of small holes. He might have found that amusing, but at the moment he was distracted by a dull soreness all over his body.

"Ugh," he groaned. Charlie had almost forgotten what pain felt like, it had been awhile. But, why was he hurting anyway? Did he have suddenly have pain receptors again? He felt himself up and almost panicked when he didn't feel hard, unyielding metal. He raised his hands to his face and saw that they weren't the steel, painted-black, limbs he was only just growing accustomed to. They had _skin_ and _fingernails_ and they definitely weren't robotic. He ran his fingers across his face and felt smooth and soft flesh, eye sockets with squishy eyeballs in them and a nose in the middle of his face! He even pried his mouth open and felt the edges of teeth and the tip of a tongue! He wiggled it around too, to make sure he wasn't imagining things.

"What the hell," he said, the words rolling oddly off his tongue. It seems he would need to get used to using it to talk again. Charlie staggered to his feet and looked around at his surroundings. "What the hell?" He didn't know what he was expecting to find when he popped out of that hole, but it certainly wasn't a perfectly flat field covered in nothing but short grass. There was no visible sun, though it was not dark either; the sky was like a dusk without the sun's light on the horizon. To the left and in the distance were the silhouettes of buildings, the tallest of which could not have been more than five maybe six stories high. The group of structures looked to be a few miles away, exactly how far was anyone's guess. Seeing as there was nothing else around, Charlie started to walk over to it.

Taking a few steps, he noticed something rubbing against his legs. Charlie glanced down at himself. "What the hell!?" He was surprised to find himself dressed in a set of pretty normal looking clothes, that is black and white sneakers and a pair of fitted jeans; a thin, black zip-up hoodie left open to show a dark green t-shirt. He assumed it was a t-shirt; he could feel the sleeves around his upper arms. Why hadn't he noticed the jacket sleeves before? And what did it say about him that the feeling of pants on his legs was strange? He shook his head and brought a hand to his face. This was getting weird, even for him; recent events notwithstanding.

Regardless, if what the hood and robe said was true, he needed to keep moving. That parasite thing could be anywhere or anything. What was he planning to do if he ran in to it too soon anyway? Charlie didn't know what he would do yet but he knew he needed to do something. Perhaps he thought he could find something useful in that town? Hopefully there was something helpful over there; he couldn't afford failure at this point.

He picked his pace up to a steady jog and continued onward.

* * *

Maybe she shouldn't have just waltzed through that portal. It was too late to go back now, though. She would just have to deal with it and keep moving forward.

The portal wasn't an instantaneous travel kind of deal. When she went through, Ruby found herself in a long, stark white, corridor that seemed to go on forever. While the corridor was long, it wasn't wide; there was only enough space for her to stretch her arms out. Even then, her finger tips brushed against the walls. The walls were smooth and they were vibrating. In fact, the whole place was shaking slightly as if it were radiating some sort of barely contained power.

She wondered how long she would need to keep walking. She hadn't seen any difference in detail or texture since she had entered the corridor. Though, for how long she had been walking she couldn't say. _"Maybe I should start wearing a watch..."_

"Ruby!"

"Huh?" She glanced over her shoulder and saw her sister running after her. "Oh, Yang!" she called back and turned around. Ruby stood there and waited for her sister to catch up, even seeing another person further down behind her. Probably Blake.

Before Yang got within a dozen yards of her however, she noticed these strange cracks forming on the floor a few feet in front of her. The cracks spider webbed up the walls and across the ceiling until after a few seconds the sections they were on shattered and disappeared. That could have been the end of it, but then the part of the corridor Yang was in started tilting downward.

"YANG!" Her legs had already started moving but she couldn't help her sister because the section of corridor she was in started tilting. The walls and floor were too smooth to get a good grip on; not even the rubber soles of her boots could find purchase. She grasped vainly with her hands for anything to hold on to but her effort was for naught; a gaping darkness had opened up below her as she slid inexorably closer to it.

She couldn't see anything down there and she couldn't do anything to stop her fall. The only thing she could do was scream. And scream she did. She screamed as she fell out of the corridor. She screamed as she looked up and saw the light of the corridor grow smaller until it disappeared entirely as she fell away from it. She screamed when the only thing around her was darkness. She even screamed when she suddenly felt solid ground under her feet again.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?" Ruby's screaming petered out as she realized that she had stopped falling. She tested the floor with a stomp, the thump of a boot on a concrete floor assuring her that she was safe for the moment. Wherever she was, it was dark. She couldn't see anything, not even her hands when she waved them in front of her face. It was going to make finding a way out of there difficult, to say the least. Ruby stretched her arms out in front of her with the intent of feeling her way out of wherever she was if she had to. She hadn't taken three steps before she bumped into something. The obstacle was wide and flat, though the part of it she could feel was grainy. Maybe it was a table? She grabbed a hold of an edge and gave it a shake. _"Yeah, definitely a table."_ She swept her hands across the tabletop, hoping to find something that could be useful.

She found something: a metal tube that flared out at one end. Her hands ran over a switch, turning the flashlight on. _"Oh."_ She ran the beam of light of around the room; concrete walls, concrete floors, and the wooden table in the middle of the room. It was pretty lifeless in there; there was not even one window. A single metal door in one corner of the room appeared to be the only way out. Good, she needed to start looking for Charlie.

Ruby opened the door just enough for her to stick her head through and peeked outside. An indeterminately long, dark hallway was to her left and a blank concrete wall to her right. "More corridors," she sighed and went left.

* * *

Yang was not afraid of much. So when the corridor started tilting forward and when she inevitably slid out of it, she didn't scream in fear. She yelled something like a battle cry, reorienting herself to face the enveloping darkness. She was in free fall for several seconds afterward before solid ground appeared below her again and she promptly face-planted into the dirt. She smoothly recovered in a somersault and jumped to her feet in a fighting stance, ready for anything.

The place where Yang found herself, as much as she could tell, was the edge of a farm. It was pretty dim out, but she could see a big red barn, a silo, and a white-paneled farmhouse just across from them. And all around the perimeter of the area was corn. She reached for a stalk and pulled on an ear. It felt so real. That hood and robed thing said they were in Charlie's soul, like a soul-scape or something. She wasn't expecting it to feel so real here, she was thinking it would be more... ethereal; more dreamlike. But, as far as she could tell this was real, authentic corn. It wasn't the kind you'd eat straight off the cob though; it wasn't nearly soft enough for that. Yang shuddered at the thought. Her family had had a neighbor on Patch that grew corn. A long story short, she had lost a baby tooth and blood had gotten all over the corncob she had tried to eat. She never looked at corn the same way again.

Shaking the memory away, she dropped the ear of corn and set off towards the farm buildings. She needed to link up with everyone and find Charlie and that parasite thing or whatever. Hopefully Ruby would be okay...

Yang stepped on to the porch of the farmhouse. There didn't appear to be anyone inside so she tried the doorknob. It was locked, obviously. Who didn't lock their doors anyway? Stupid people, that's who. Still, it would take more than a wooden door to keep her out of a house. A single kick was enough to knock the door off its hinges and send it several feet back. She marched inside and inspected the interior. There was nothing really interesting about it except maybe that it was too clean. It looked like one of those model homes a realtor would show their client. It didn't feel like someone actually lived here; it didn't feel like a... home. She searched around anyway. She was unarmed at the moment and being without Ember Celica, the name that had been bestowed upon her gauntlets, made her uneasy. So, she was hoping to find something that could give her a fighting chance. She tried the kitchen first, searching through drawers and cabinets. Most of them were empty and the closest thing she could find to a weapon was a set of kitchen knives. She picked a random chef's knife and slid it under her belt on her hip. Yang could admit she wasn't particularly good with knives but, it was better to have something than nothing at all.

She looked through the few other rooms in the house but didn't find anything of value so she left to check the other buildings. First, Yang went to the barn. She pried open the doors and peered inside, noting its clinical cleanliness and smell. There wasn't dirt or dust of the mundane variety anywhere to be seen, nor animals or hay. The wood floor was clean and didn't creak as she might have expected when she walked around inside. There were a few tools for farming hanging on the wall but other than that the place was empty.

Yang went back outside and checked the silo. There were a large pair of swing-out doors on the side facing the barn. A plank of wood was laid across the front on metal rungs, keeping it locked from the outside. An odd arrangement; it definitely wouldn't keep thieves out but it made it easy for her to access. She lifted the plank off the door with little effort and swung the door out.

And was nearly buried under a wall of corn.

She backpedaled out of the way, turning around to run when the wave of grain kept spilling out further and further from its source. After a few seconds the corn stopped rolling out and Yang walked back up to the huge pile of unshucked grain that had formed. "I guess there wasn't anything in there," she thought and started to walk away when something hit her foot. Yang looked down and saw an ear of corn roll over her boot and back towards the pile along with dozens of others. She turned back and saw much of the pile was moving and forming... something.

The corn stacked itself into two pillars ten feet tall then formed a more cohesive mass on top of that another ten or so feet tall and two or three times that wide. Then, the corn started attaching itself horizontally to near the top of it, forming two long tendrils on two sides that drooped as they got longer._ "Weird, it almost looks like two legs, two arms, and a body... wait a minute."_

More corn stacked itself at the top of the torso and formed a wide, bulbous head. The head parted in the middle, ears of corn arraying themselves vertically and unshucking themselves to resemble long, yellow teeth. The giant effigy to agriculture suddenly rippled with motion and came to life. It reared its head back and roared at the sky.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Yang exclaimed. The giant corn monster looked down at her and she swore it smiled.

"BEHOLD!" it roared, its voice sounding like a waterfall made of kernels. "CORN!"

An incredulous curse almost made its way out of her mouth when the corn monster lifted its arm and pointed it at her; the tip blossoming like a flower. An ear of corn launched off the tip and missed her head by mere inches, burying itself into the dirt behind her. She didn't need to be told twice to start running.

The closest available cover was the barn, so Yang ran there; high-velocity ears of corn licking at her heels the whole way there. As soon as she was inside, she slammed the doors shut and put a ready and waiting plank of wood across them. Backing away, she tried to think about what she could do. Her thoughts were rudely interrupted when hundreds of holes started being punched through the entire front of the barn. Yang took cover behind a sturdy looking wood pillar. Hundreds of tiny projectiles ricocheted off the walls, several dozen of them bouncing off her aura. She looked at her feet and saw the floor was littered with kernels of corn. She was being shot at with **kernels of corn!**

The shooting stopped and she heard several lumbering footsteps approach the barn. Outside, the corn monster roared and sent one of its arms crashing through the barn. Yang knew she couldn't stay there for much longer. There was another set of doors on the other end of the barn, so she made a beeline towards it and, putting as much strength into her run as she could, smashed through the doors. She quickly looked to her left and right: corn all around the perimeter except for one section that looked like a road out of there. She ran towards it. Yang heard the heavy footsteps behind her as the corn monster shifted its position. On instinct, she changed directions towards the house and saw plumes of dirt rise around her where kernels and whole cobs flew and missed their mark. On the last few feet before she got behind the house, she stumbled and hissed in pain when one of those flying corn cobs hit her in the leg. She managed to roll into cover, stand up and look around again; desperately searching for something that could help her.

At few feet to her left there was an wooden chest set against the house. Its entire outside surface was polished to a high sheen. Seeing no other options. Yang went over to it and threw the lid open, nearly jumping for joy when she saw two very familiar metallic-yellow bracelets. She had found her weapons.

She slipped them on hurriedly and flicked her wrists, expanding them into their full gauntlet form. She turned them over to inspect and verify that they were indeed fully loaded. Not that she really needed to; for all the time she had trained with these, Yang knew what Ember Celica felt like loaded. With the pump of her arms, she racked a shell into both gauntlet's chambers and walked around the other side of the house. When she emerged from cover, Yang saw the corn monster was halfway between the barn and the house.

"Hey! Grainy!" she called out, her lips parting in a vicious smile. "Wanna make some popcorn?"

The corn monster ponderously turned to face her and took a few ponderous steps. Both arms extended, ears of corn all over its body unfurled. Whole cobs launched off and a storm of kernels popped off its chest. Yang brought her arms up so her gauntlets would take the worst of it and charged through the hail of flying grain. Cobs impacted and exploded into showers of fragments and much of the kernels were either being stopped by her aura inches before striking or kicking up clouds of dirt all around her. She could feel the sting of each individual hit and, when she started running at the monster, she could feel the strength in her strides grow.

As Yang got closer, the corn monster brought one of its arms back and sent it forward in a punch that was far too slow to hit her. She could have easily dodged it but instead chose to stand her ground and counter it head on with her own punch. Bracing herself, her arm shot forward to intercept Grainy's punch. To the uninformed observer, this matchup might have seemed to be unfairly stacked in the corn monster's favor. In a normal fight, they would be right. But what they might not have taken into account was the strength of an Aura and a Huntress-in-training well versed in the use of her Semblance.

A Semblance is a special way to utilize one's Aura unique to every user. Yang's ability, put simply, was to absorb energy. The harder she was hit, the harder she hit back. Up to this point in the fight, Yang had already sustained hundreds of impacts; jarring her briefly but charging her up all the same. So when several hundred pounds of malicious corn met the fist of several dozen pounds of determined Huntress, the results were spectacular.

The corn monster's blow was stopped dead in its tracks. The energy of Yang's counter moved in a visible wave up the corn monster's arm and exploded out of its shoulder, littering the area behind it with husks. The blow seemed to have momentarily stunned it but Yang did not relent. Racking a new shell into her right gauntlet, she aimed both weapons behind her and fired, timing a leap with the detonations to propel her forward. In the half-second she was in the air, Yang pumped one of her gauntlets and aimed for the corn monster's knee, punching straight through it. She skidded to a stop behind it, aimed her other gauntlet at the remaining knee and fired. The corn monster had been ponderously balancing on it and when the Dust round struck and subsequently started to fall. It managed to keep itself upright with its sole remaining good arm.

The corn monster sent its damaged arm in a wide arc like a whip to try and hit Yang. The blonde brawler easily ducked under it and dashed in for the kill. She jumped up onto its shoulder and set upon its head with a barrage of punches, the effects of which were absolutely devastating. In seconds, the corn monster's head was nothing more than a smoldering ruin that, Yang could admit, kinda smelled good. She rode the the destroyed monster as it fell to the ground. Whatever force had been holding it together disappeared as the corn that made up its body fell away until nothing was left but a pile of benign grain. She tentatively tapped the pile with the tip of her boot to see if anything happened and when nothing did, kicked it to make sure it was really dead.

Reasonably assured, Yang hopped off the pile and strolled off towards the only opening in the corn field around her. It was a straight path that she followed for awhile until it led out to a paved road. Directly in front of her was a green sign with a white arrow pointing right. _"Should I go right?"_ she thought. It was certainly possible that she needed to go left and the sign was a trick. As if reading her thoughts, new words appeared below the arrow: "No, Yang, it is not a trap. Go right."

"Well, that's not suspicious at all!" she yelled at the sign.

The arrow and text disappeared and was replaced by a new string of words: "We just spoke earlier. I am the one that brought you here."

"You're the hood and robe guy?"

"Yes."

She crossed her arms "How can I believe you?"

"Blake will find you in a few minutes. Simply keep walking right."

"Alright, fine! But if you're really that thing we came here to fight, you're gonna regret trying to fool me!" The sign responded by erasing all of its text and putting the arrow back up. Huffing in annoyance, Yang started heading right.

* * *

When the corridor Blake had been in started tilting forward, the girl did the best she could to keep from falling in the darkness below. She tried jumping off the walls and managed to gain some altitude before slipping up and falling to her presumed death. She briefly gasped then fell silent. Blake didn't see the point in screaming. There was nothing she could do and if she was to die now, she would die with some dignity. She wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes, hoping for the best.

After a few seconds she opened her eyes again when she felt something solid under her back. She was lying down on a patch of grass underneath of canopy of leaves. She was in a forest and the long shadows cast by the trees told her it was rather dark. She didn't have a hard time seeing though; the natural night-vision she possessed as a faunus really came in handy sometimes. She looked around and saw a dirt trail nearby with a wooden post marking its end. With no other direction to go, she went on the trail and followed it.

She walked the patch for awhile, using the time to contemplate her current situation. Why had the corridor suddenly tilted over? Where was everyone? Just what was she supposed to be watching out for in the first place? Had she forgotten to turn off the faucet in the bathroom earlier? Questions like these, relevant and not-so-relevant flittered around her mind. Blake shook her head; she needed to focus on what was important in the here and now.

The sound of a twig snapping behind her alerted her to potential danger. She spun around and saw someone slowly walking toward her, perhaps ten yards back. They held their head low and their hands were hidden in the front pockets of their jacket. Their pace slowed further when they seemed to have noticed Blake watching them. They brought their head up, revealing a the face of a youngish looking man with a scruffy beard. He was smiling broadly. Blake didn't like his smile. There was something about it that was off and he had a strange look about him...

She caught the movement of his hands when they came out of his pockets. One hand was empty but in the other he was brandishing a wicked looking, fixed-bladed knife. His smile seemed to grow broader as he dropped down on all fours and took off in a sprint towards her. Her eyes widened; she didn't need to be told to start running as well. In any other situation she might have stood her ground and defended herself, but she was unarmed. While she was moderately proficient in unarmed combat, courtesy of her harsh upbringing outside of the kingdom and occasional sparring with Yang, she didn't want to tangle with someone armed with a knife if she didn't have to.

She ran down the path, looking back every few seconds to see if he was still following her. He was; the smile hadn't faded in the slightest. The hood and robed figure had said that this environment was the product of Charlie's mind. If that was the case, she questioned his sanity.

Blake looked over her shoulder again. At this rate, she would never outrun this creep. She would need to get off the path and try to lose him in the woods around her. She took a sharp turn left and ran through the underbrush, pushing through what she could, leaping or going around what she couldn't. She ran deeper and deeper into the forest with reckless abandon, stopping only when the only sound she could hear was her own ragged breathing. Blake leaned against a nearby tree to stop and catch her breath. It didn't take long for her to recover and when she did, the girl crept out from the shadow of the tree and listened carefully. She hadn't paid it any attention before but she noticed that the environment was unnaturally still. The sounds of nature were conspicuously absent; there wasn't even a breeze. It didn't seem right. It seemed... stale, as if someone had forgotten or hadn't bothered to put in such detailing. She wrote it off to the fact that the place she was in wasn't natural in the first place and that was probably what happened. While listening, she observed her surroundings to see if her would-be killer was nearby. Satisfied that he wasn't after a minute of searching, Blake left her resting spot and stalked off in the direction roughly where the dirt path would have led her.

She picked her way through the vegetation carefully. One detail that had been left out of this place that she was thankful for was the fact that there were no bugs around. Blake was glad she didn't need to spend undue attention swatting away insects. With her aura at full strength as it was now, it's not as if anything would have been able to bite or sting her anyway. Still though, it was annoying. It almost made her trek through these dark woods enjoyable. Almost.

As she hiked through the forest, her attention was focused mostly on finding the best path through all the plant life. As it was, it came to her surprise when one of her footsteps didn't fall on dirt, grass, or a twig but instead something metal. It came to an even bigger surprise when something snapped onto her calf with incredible force.

"AH!" she yowled in shock. She looked down and physically recoiled when she saw her leg was caught in a bear trap. She kneeled down and used as much strength as was necessary to pry open its iron jaws and free herself, the trap snapping shut as she hopped out of its way. Blake experimentally shifted her weight onto the leg that had been trapped and sighed in relief when there wasn't any pain. She was thankful for having an active Aura; it had probably stopped the trap a fraction of inch away from her leg and it had given her the strength to force it open.

The girl stared at the trap and shook her head sadly. She had bad memories associated with things like these. Blake remembered a time when she was younger and more idealistic when a person, a faunus that lived in the same village as her, was mutilated by animal traps evidently set out by a human bigot. She remembered the few days afterward when the townsfolk had scoured the area and questioned everyone they could find. They eventually found someone they could blame; the evidence had apparently been irrefutable. The human was taken to the town center and... she didn't know what happened to him after that, her parents hadn't let her watch nor did they talk about it in front of her. She found out much later that it hadn't been a civil affair. The voices calling for a trial were drowned out by the crowd's thirst for blood.

Blake tore her gaze off of the trap and continued on her way. Thinking about old grievances wouldn't help her now so she focused on her task at hand: rendezvous with the others, locate Charlie, and deal with that parasite... thing. Her brow furrowed in worry; it wasn't exactly a detailed plan. It wasn't even a plan. It was a set of goals! _"Whatever."_ She resigned herself to keep walking forward, making sure to watch out for any more traps. She was bound to run into something eventually, right?

Her reasoning paid off a short time later when she came back across the dirt path and something even better: a small cottage. There was a light on inside, too. Blake moved silently towards it, hoping that she could find something that could help her or at least a clue to point her in the right direction. A curtain was drawn over the window so she couldn't see inside. She tried the door and was glad to find it was unlocked. She opened the door and passed into the house as quietly as she could, her eyes logging the interior: sparsely furnished living room sharing a hardly discernible border with a kitchen, a wall to her left with a single door hanging ajar. There was a sound coming from that room, familiar to anyone who had passed a busy workshop or maintained a sharpened implement. The sound of of metal on a grinder, be a it a stone wheel or a belt sander. In this case it was the former, Blake found out when she peered inside. Sitting on a chair in front of a wheel grinder was the knife-wielding nutcase from earlier. He was sharpening an axe and his knife was laying on a nearby table.

Blake backed away from the door. He didn't appear to have noticed her enter, which was good. Though if she was going to search this house for something useful, she was going to have to do it quietly. She started in the kitchen. She opened every drawer and the most dangerous thing she could find was a spatula, which was odd. Who didn't keep knives in their kitchen? Did that man in there use the same knife for attacking people to prepare food as well? That didn't make sense. But, considering the place she was in it didn't really have to.

Frustrated with her lack of success, Blake stalked back into the living room and tried looking in the drawer of an end table. She found a key ring with a single key and a car starter remote and plucked it out of its place, thinking it might be of use later. Blake closed the drawer and stood up straight again. When the drawer slid back into place, she noticed something. More accurately the lack of something.

The grinding had stopped.

She could still hear the machine whirring but when she looked through the door there was no one there. She forced herself to slow her breathing and tried to listen for anything unusual as she crept as back towards the open door.

It was eerily quiet. Besides the spinning grinder, the only sounds she could hear were her own muffled footsteps and elevated heartbeat. She was walking into trouble, she just knew it. She hated when she couldn't see what she needed to face down. Her training and preferred method of fighting dictated that she needed to control the stage; maneuverability was her friend. Unarmed in the cramped quarters of a small cottage was unfavorable, to say the least. Still, she needed to check. Blake could see the knife on the table, so if the worst came to pass there would be something she could work towards. Of course, the missing man probably had an axe, so she wasn't looking forward to trying that.

She advanced slowly into the room and peered around into every corner. It really looked like the knifeman had disappeared. But she didn't hold her breath; she was expecting him to pop out of nowhere at any given second. As she looked around the room, she saw something far more useful than the knife on the table. Hung up on a wall mount in the corner was none other than her personal weapon: Gambol Shroud.

The Variant Ballistic Chain Scythe was in its cleaver sheath and hanging in a set of hooks. Ready to use or hung up like a trophy, she couldn't tell. Blake was just glad to have something she was accustomed to in her grasp once again. She delicately lifted the weapon out of its mount and swung its reassuring weight. _"What a relief."_ It really was a good idea to go into this cottage. Speaking of which, she needed to leave. She would finish inspecting her weapon and making sure it worked properly afterwards. Blake was raising it to stow it on her back and turning around to leave when she found her sword was exactly in the right position to stop a falling axe head.

On pure instinct she brought her other hand up to reinforce the block. The man had returned, seemingly from nowhere. That didn't surprise as much as it should have. He had a manic glee in his eyes and a creepy, broad smile that just seemed to get wider with each passing second. Her weapon was locked right under the axe head and digging into the wooden handle. Either her blade was dull or that handle wasn't really wood because she knew even without an aura-enhanced edge it should be able to cut through something like that with no trouble at all. But the way she figured it, this place was basically a dream. She should expect her expectations to be defied or something similarly convoluted to happen.

Blake's arms started to waver as the pressure from the axe increased. Damn, this guy was strong. Was it even a person or some weird figment generated specifically to try and kill her? Could it be the parasite itself? Would she ever stop entertaining idle thoughts in the middle of a fight? Blake didn't think she would know the answers to any of those questions for a long time yet and so refocused her efforts to escaping her current predicament. A quick roll to the left and she was disengaged almost effortlessly. He was still bringing his axe down when she unsheathed her blade, collapsing it and uncovering the muzzle of the pistol in the hilt in a single smooth motion, and firing. The man flinched with the impact but was still standing so she fired again only for him to shrug it off. Bullets weren't going to get her anywhere with reasonable economy.

Blake rushed forward, using her cleaver sheath to parry a clumsy swing and jammed her other blade straight through the man's chest. He was still smiling at her and started to raise his axe again. She jumped back, being sure to pull her weapon out of the man as she left. She noted with some uneasiness that there was no blood gushing from the wound. _"Okay... new plan."_

The girl sheathed her weapon and gripped it with both hands; she was going to need the leverage. She slid forward and feinted a slash, hoping the man would commit to a counter. He did, swinging his axe and embedding it into the floor. Wide open now, Blake made her move and in a single, powerful stroke removed his head. The headless body fell to it's and toppled to the floor. She noted somewhat dispassionately that once again there wasn't any blood leaking out of the wounds. She hoped that he... it... whatever it was, was dead.

Safe at last, at least for now, Blake set her weapon on her back and walked out of the cottage. The keys she had picked up earlier jingled as she walked. They had managed to stay on her hip through out the whole affair. Magnetic strips sown into her clothes really came in handy. They're what kept Gambol Shroud attached to her back and allowed her to hang on to any small trinkets she might find.

Thinking of the keys, Blake moved around to the back of the cottage to see if she could find what vehicle it obviously belonged to. Her luck held out; there was a white pickup truck parked under a tree. She hurried over to it, finding the door to be curiously unlocked, and started the engine.

Blake didn't drive much. She could count how many times she had been in control of any vehicle on a single hand in fact. Naturally, she was a bit apprehensive about being behind the wheel of a truck. Slowly easing onto the accelerator, she rolled the vehicle onto the dirt path. A minute later the path ended and came out on a paved concrete road. To her right was open road and to her left was a red and white striped fence marking one end it. With no other option, Blake turned right. She wasn't driving for long when her keen eyes spotted a mop of blonde hair moving along the right side of the road. Blake pressed the horn on the steering wheel to get Yang's attention and rolled to a stop next to her partner.

"Wow Blake, great timing," Yang said, hopping into the truck.

"Yeah." Blake wasted no time in getting the truck moving along again.

"What was down that end of the road?"

"Dead end and a psycho axe murderer. Anything happen to you?"

"Corn monster," Yang laughed. "Man, this place is screwed up! And this came out of Charlie's head?"

"Mmmm..." Blake focused on the road and Yang's mirth subsided quickly. "We gotta find Ruby."

"And Weiss..."

"Yeah, her too. I wonder how everyone is holding up..." Yang trailed off. "Wait, since when can you drive Blake?"

"I'm just full of surprises," she replied in complete deadpan.

"Oh. Can I take over?"

"...Later."

* * *

**Author's Note: In case anyone hadn't noticed, Blake's segment of this chapter was inspired by listening to "Shia LaBeouf" by Rob Cantor. Listen to it and you'll see what I mean.**

**Yang finally got her own segment in the story! Yes, the "Behold Corn" thing is a reference. **

**Weiss did not appear in this chapter because I have something special planned for her. Ruby's segment will continue next chapter.**

**The story has a new summary. What do you think?**

**In other news: In addition to EVE Online, I started playing XCOM. Trying to balance writing time with those two is proving to be difficult. I have also recently acquired the EVE Online Source book. I have a couple ideas for potential crossovers in light of all the lore in it. Might make something, might not. We'll see.**

**Please, I need to know what you think. Any and all feedback is welcome.**


	9. Chapter 9

Technically, Still Human CH. 9 (RWBY)

* * *

Ruby couldn't help but feel that she was being watched. She hadn't passed a door, window, or another hallway so there was no way for someone or something to watch her without her noticing. It had just been one long, dark corridor with no end in sight. Despite knowing this, the tingly feeling on the back of her neck just wouldn't go away.

She swept the soft light of the flashlight up and down the corridor to see if she might have missed something. It wasn't the first time she had done it and the result was the same. Nothing. Yet, the feeling was till there. Ruby knew someone or something was watching her, she just didn't know how or where.

If there was something watching her, it couldn't be up to anything good. She needed to get out of there. Ruby shot forward in a semblance-powered sprint and ran and ran and ran until she was out of breath, which was a feat in and of itself. Being the runner that she was, she recovered quickly and looked around once again. It was still the same featureless corridor. Ruby groaned.

"HELLO!" she yelled out in frustration. She could hear her voice echo a few times as it traveled. There was no response; not that she was expecting one at this point. Downcast, Ruby plodded forward. This hallway couldn't last forever, could it? It had to end up somewhere. She had to keep walking. She didn't have a choice to do otherwise.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Ruby did find something. A single, metal door on her left side. She was happy to find something after all this time and wasted no time throwing the door open. Inside was a wooden table in the middle of a lifeless, concrete room. A very familiar lifeless, concrete room. Was it the same one she had started in? If that was the case then she had been going in one big circle. But how? The hallway hadn't curved, it had just been a continuous straight line. Besides, if this was the same room there should have been a wall in the direction she had arrived from. Ruby checked back outside and was startled to find the corridor had changed. Gone was the simple straight line and in its place was a room shaped like a big half-circle with five different hallways branching out from it.

"WHAT WAS THE POINT OF ALL THAT!?" She didn't know who she was yelling at but she felt the need the express her frustration. At least the feeling that she was being watched was gone now, so there was that.

Ruby stared down each individual hallway. She would need to pick one, but which? They appeared to be identical. Maybe there was some kind of hidden meaning? Perhaps the positions of the hallways meant-

Her line of thought was interrupted by the ear wrenching sound of metal scraping on concrete.

Ruby turned around and saw... something. It was a man, she was sure, and he was shirtless. He was wearing a white robe over his lower body and shining a flashlight over him showed that it was... bloodied. Besides this there were two very important details she had momentarily glossed over. First, was the strange scalene, pyramid-shaped helmet thing he was wearing. It was long, black and comically over-sized. Wearing it looked painful. The second, and much more worrying, was the huge sword he was dragging. Calling it a sword was giving it a lot of credit though; it looked like a single, hulking, piece of steel was crudely cut and given an edge. The pyramid head trudged out of the room she had just been in and swung his helmet to face her. Then he started moving towards her with intent; lifting his crude weapon off the floor and bringing it to bear.

Ruby considered her options. Without Crescent Rose, her options involving fighting were limited. Option one: Use her speed and agility in an attempt to disarm him and use the crude sword to finish the job.

Option two: Turn around and run away screaming.

Giving it about a second of careful consideration, Ruby chose option two. Minus the screaming. Okay, she could admit there was a little bit of screaming. But not a lot! She wasn't a little girl anymore!

At least she didn't have to worry about which path to take. The middle way is the simple way and in running for your life, that's all that matters.

* * *

Charlie made it to the edge of town in good time. He hoped it was good time anyway; there wasn't any obvious way to keep track of time. He didn't trust his own internal sense of time without an outside reference.

He walked down a narrow alleyway that led out to a wide boulevard. Every building in the area was lined up along this road. And besides a median covered in grass and an orderly line of small trees, the street was empty. Honestly, it looked like the stage for a shootout in some big budget Hollywood film. Which he knew it just might come down to. If that THING was supposed to take a form that made sense in the context of this environment, then he should expect for this to turn into some sort of shootout. If that was the case, then he should exercise one of the most important lessons of Tactics 101: High Ground Is Your Friend. In an urban setting, high ground is abundant so he should set up in either the tallest building for clear lines of sight or the second tallest building if he wanted to at least try to act subtle.

Charlie was never one for subtlety. Highest building it is then. But first, he would need something to protect himself. If what the hood and robe (what the hell was his name anyway?) said was true, then this town should conform to his expectations of what town should be. He expected there to be a sporting goods store or even better, a gun shop. Charlie scanned down the signs of nearby buildings to to determine their purposes. There were signs advertising coffee and tea, a movie theater, and clothes stores. The tallest building in the area was apparently a hotel. There didn't appear to be anything useful from on this end, so Charlie moved further down the street.

As he was walking down the boulevard, he saw a weapon being proudly displayed in a window. It wasn't just any weapon and its red finish was what caught his eye. It was Ruby's scythe-gun, extended out to its compact rifle mode. What was it doing here? He could figure that out later. Right now, he would feel a lot more comfortable with a weapon in his hands. Charlie moved to open the door, first to try the knob to see if it was unlocked. It was. Strange, he had been prepared to kick it down but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Charlie pushed the door open and peered inside. A generic living room setup greeted him. Most interestingly, there was a shotgun hung up above the mantle of a fireplace. How convenient. He'd take that instead. Ruby's scythe seemed incredibly dangerous to even attempt to use. He took the weapon down from its mount and felt a wave of nostalgia. This wasn't just some random shotgun, it was the exact one he had owned in his other life. Eight-shot tube, tang safety, metal trigger guard, and bayonet lug. A Mossberg 590A1: military issue and surprisingly civilian legal in California. It was a hand-me-down that had accumulated a few accessories over its life. Nothing too flashy, just a side-saddle and a two-point sling; not enough to raise eyebrows. Of course, it had always only been a form of insurance in his mind. It had never been fired in anger. That might change today.

He racked the pump once and confirmed that it was unloaded. Of course it was. He would have never stored it in such a conspicuous place loaded, that was just plain stupid. But if things were where he expected them to be, then ammunition would not be far away. If he was lucky, the bayonet would be close by too!

* * *

Blake and Yang had been driving along for twenty minutes according to the digital clock. They had long since fallen into silence and where completely focused on the road ahead. At least, Blake was. Although she was concerned for the well-being of her sister, Weiss, and Charlie, Yang's mind had started to wander. She was bored.

_"I wonder what passes for music around here..."_ Yang thought and toggled the radio on. An upbeat pop song started playing.

_I stay out too late_

_Got nothin' on my brain_

_That's what people say, mmm-mmm_

Yang tried to change the channel but nothing happened.

_That's what people say, mmm-mmm,_

She tried turning off the radio and nothing happened.

_I go on too many dates_

_But I can't make 'em stay_

_At least that's what people say, mmm-mmm_

Blake gave her a weird look. "Oh well," she shrugged. They needed something to fill up the silence anyway. Maybe something cool would come up after this?

_That's what people say, mmm-mmm._

* * *

One thing Ruby had going for her was that the pyramid head wasn't the fastest thing in the world. At least, compared to her. She was glad her Semblance had turned out the way it did.

The girl slowed her sprint to a run and looked over her shoulder. There wasn't any trace of the pyramid head behind her. Maybe she lost him? Or more likely, she had just gone too far away to see anything. The flashlight's beam didn't go that far and it was too dark to see anything otherwise. She should probably keep running...

Ruby whipped her light back in front of her and barely noticed a door she was running past. She doubled back and reached for the doorknob but hesitated to open it. On one hand, this was the first door she had seen since the other one. Doors were really conspicuous in these empty hallways and unless it was just another room with a wooden table in the center, there was probably something inside.

On the other hand, that pyramid head guy came out of the last room she left. Something not very friendly could be inside...

She decided to take the risk. Whatever she found would either be helpful or hostile and she was confident she could outrun anything of the latter. Taking a breath to calm her nerves, Ruby pushed the door open and shined her light inside.

The room was empty save for a tall, suited man with an unnaturally slender build standing in the far corner. Where a face should have been was instead featureless, blank white. Ruby stared at him to try and make sense of what she was seeing, but she started to feel woozy. Dizzy and unsettled. And, oh my... were those tentacles sprouting out of his back?

Ruby slammed the door shut and shook her head. "Well that was weird." She turned and started to continue her path down the hallway...

...only to find the tall, slender, suited man right behind her.

The girl blinked once. Then twice. "Huh, they are tentacles..."

Ruby ran off like a screaming, crimson bullet.

* * *

When Weiss stepped through the portal, she immediately felt the floor start to shift. She tried to keep her balance but quickly figured out that wasn't going to work. Pointing a finger at the floor, Weiss created a glyph to stand on.

Weiss's Semblance was the creation of glyphs. Simply put, she could project her Aura into flat discs of energy. The discs were stylized with a snowflake; the Schnee Crest. Weiss considered herself an expert on Dust and its direct, practical applications in the field. Her fighting style reflected this and her Semblance complemented it extremely well. Her glyphs could change their physical properties as well as amplify the effects of Dust they were exposed to. Unfortunately, at the moment Weiss had no Dust on hand to work with. Despite this, she could still conjure a simple platform to stand on easily enough.

She watched the corridor shift around her until it came to a stop ninety degrees from it where it started. A sheer, vertical drop was below her and the glowing portal she had emerged from above her. Weiss stood on her glyph for a moment in silence and looked around, confused.

_"What now?"_ she thought. _"Did everyone else fall down there?"_

As suddenly as the corridor had shifted vertically, it shifted back into its original position. Weiss dispelled her glyph and tentatively took a step forward, wary of a deception. When nothing happened, her confidence returned and she picked up her speed. There was an open doorway at the end of the corridor and Weiss was intent on leaving this area as quickly as possible.

She left the corridor and passed through the doorway without incident. The room on the other side was a huge, brilliant white hall with high, vaulted ceilings. Spaced at regular intervals along the walls on both sides of her were statues. At least, she assumed they were statues. They were incredibly detailed and were in what she assumed were true-to-life colors. They could have easily passed as real people. However, they were completely motionless and standing on pedestals so the statue thing was probably correct.

The first and closest statue was on her left. It depicted a man adorned in white robes and chain mail; a black cross was emblazoned on his chest. His head was completely covered by a great helm. He carried a simple long sword in his right hand and had a kite shield, also marked with a black cross, resting on his left side. Weiss looked down and noticed a plaque on the pedestal that read: _Flater - Teutonic Order._

_"I wonder what that is."_ Weiss continued walking down the lane, only giving passing glances to the statues she passed. They were all similar to the first but she did note that the further she went the more elaborate their armor became. When the complexity of the armor's form seemed to reach a practical apex, it dropped off completely and was replaced by much lighter cloth uniforms. She stopped at a random statue on the line, this one a man in a neatly pressed red coat, white pants and black boots. He was standing at attention with an old-fashioned, wood-stock musket. Weiss read the plaque: _Flater - British Army._

_"Isn't... Flater Charlie's last name?"_ Weiss realized. If that was the case, what did these statues mean? She was moving to continue on her way but the very next statue caught her eye, if only for contrast compared to the previous one. This one was of a man wearing dull, earthy-toned clothing and carrying a much longer weapon. A worn tricorne hat capped his head; his face was frozen in a weary smirk. This statue's plaque read: _Flater - Continental Army._

"Hello." A voice sounded behind her, making her jump. She spun around and found the hood and robed figure standing behind her.

"Ack- when did you get there!?" She tried to keep the distress out of her voice.

"Just now." He tilted his head. "Fascinating place this is, is it not?"

"Yes, I suppose. What exactly is it though?"

"That... will require some explanation. Explanation that I do owe you. Let us keep walking, I will explain as we go."

"Alright..." Weiss said and started making her way to the other end of the room. The hood and robed figure slid alongside her silently.

"Reproduction in it's basest form is an exchange of information," he began. "I will spare you the details of the physical aspect of it, I have no doubt you are familiar with it, but on the level where the soul exists, something else can happen. A bond can form. And the ideal connection between parent and child is something truly remarkable. Now then, as I am sure you have noticed, each of these pedestals bears the surname, 'Flater'. The reason this is, is that each of these statues depicts one of Charles's forebears. Now Weiss, am I right to assume that you understand what it means to have the weight of history behind a name?"

"Yes." Of course she did. With the last name Schnee, she was the heir to an industrial dynasty. No pressure.

"Then I am sure you take pride in the achievements of your ancestors. You have heard tales of their endeavors and you hope that you have what it takes to live up to a certain expectation," he nodded. "But what if I told you that through the bond I describe, an imprint of your parents could have been passed down to you? This imprint would contain the defining memories and skills that made them the people they became. It would guarantee that you could live up to their own standard."

"An Ideal Bond however, would be one that not only passed along the parent's imprint, but their parent's and their parent's parents. So on and so forth. Generations of experience passed down and distilled into one being. This is extraordinarily rare though; even a simple, single generation bond is very uncommon. Even still, some people get glimpses that give them fragments of a past life; usually never realizing the true extent of what they have experienced."

"This," the hood and robed figure gestured to the statues around them. "is a visual representation of generations of imprints and is the reason I was watching over Charles in the first place."

"What reason is that?"

"The reason? For nearly a thousand years, every first-born male of this bloodline without fail has become a soldier. Every. Single. One. I was helping to maintain the extraordinary bond that recorded each and every one of them."

"All soldiers?" Remnant had a few prominent, modern warrior lines that dated back to the founding of the kingdoms. The ones that became Huntsmen or Huntresses held a certain level of prestige among their peers. If Charlie was a descendant of a line that long, he'd certainly be up there with them. "Did you have something to do with that?" she guessed.

"Clever girl. Yes, we most certainly did. Maintaining this bond and bloodline is a result of much time and effort; do you understand how difficult it is to subtly nudge someone onto another life path? Especially when they are not always cooperative. Like that one over there," he pointed to a blue uniformed man that a plaque identified as _Flater - Union Army_, "was pursuing a career as an artist. There was a war on at the time so he paid for a draft exemption. Let me just say that, after a mysterious fire at his local post office, his exemption was never approved and he was conscripted shortly afterward. He became a fine rifleman and had a long, distinguished service."

"How... manipulative." Weiss wasn't sure how she should feel about that. Impressed at all the planning it must have involved or disgusted that someone's life was chosen for them. A pool of resentment bubbled up within her; she knew exactly how that felt. "Why did you need to do it?"

The hooded figure slowed its movement. "Because the right man in the right place can change the world. They can mean the difference between peace and stability and utter annihilation. In the case of all these men, without their conscious involvement we have directed their blades and bullets to the right places at the right times, saving countless lives and building a wealth of experience in the process."

"But I don't understand why couldn't you tell them."

"When you are dealing with something that is capable of reading minds like you would read a book, withholding information has its advantages."

"You mean they can't rat you out."

"In essence, you are correct. But it also offers a level of protection: if they do not know anything, they are more likely to be released without harm than executed. It is simply the nature of this conflict."

"What conflict? And, who is 'we'? I have noticed you keep referring to a 'we'."

They had arrived at the other end of the hall. A tall but plain double door was the only thing of note. "All in due time. Your friends need you and I have held you long enough."

Weiss sighed. That seemed to be all she was going to get for now. The lack of information regarding her recent circumstances was really starting to irritate her. "Do you know how they're doing?"

The hooded figure bowed its head a moment before answering. "Yang and Blake appear to be on course. Ruby appears to be distressed, but is on a path that leads directly to Charles. They should be fine for now. But... there is something moving out there. I can feel it. The parasite is going to make a concentrated effort to claim Charles very soon. Do not allow this to happen."

"Right." The door began sliding open. "Remember: you still owe me answers!" Weiss said, walking backwards into the light and pointing at him.

"Of course," he nodded slowly. When the girl left and the doors closed behind her, the hooded figure slid over to the statue closest to the door. It was the most recent addition to the long line, it depicted a man covered head to foot in black. A helmet, balaclava and goggles obscured his facial features. The plaque on the pedestal below it read: _Flater - United States Army_.

"Hmm, your affiliation needs to be updated. Perhaps another time..." he mused to himself. The hooded figure briefly looked at the statues face before looking away. "I wonder what you would have said about your son now, Brysen?"

* * *

Charlie thoroughly searched through every room in the house and found a few items of value. The first and most important things were several dozen rounds of ammunition. A mix of red-shelled buckshot and green-shelled slugs. It was seventy-two shells all together; a full third of it being slugs. Fifty-six shells were conveniently loaded onto a bandolier and the other sixteen arrayed on a table. The sixteen loose shells just happened to be enough to load the shotgun's tube magazine and fill the side-saddle. It was oddly satisfying.

The other thing he found was the bayonet, which he was hoping he would find. A bog-standard M9 bayonet in its sheath, he found it in the same room with all the ammunition. For some reason, the thought of the seven-inch blade on the front of a shotgun made him giddy. Perhaps it was the influence of being on Remnant. He controlled himself though and simply looped the scabbard around his belt.

Just as he was about to make for the front door and leave the house he was in, he heard a banging coming from the back of the building. Charlie donned the bandolier and racked a shell into the chamber of his gun and walked softly to the rear. The banging was still muffled when he got there, so he figured it must be coming from outside and lightly pushed the back door open.

Outside, there were some cellar doors with an iron bar set in their handles. There was someone or something pushing frantically against it judging by all the noise they were making. Whatever it was, it was making progress; the bar was almost out.

Charlie wasn't sure what to do. It could be something nasty on the other side, if so he should just blast it through the door. But, it could be something helpful so shooting it would not be in his best interest. His thoughts were put on hold when he heard a muffled voice on the other side of it.

"Come on, come on..." For a moment, they went quiet and stopped pushing against the doors. Then suddenly, they started screaming and redoubled their efforts on the door.

That settled that. Whoever she was, she (judging by how high the screaming was) was in trouble. Charlie slung his weapon over his shoulder and pulled the bar off of the doors. The cellar doors exploded open and mass cloaked in red flew into him, knocking him to the ground. His eyes closed when he hit the ground and when he blinked the stars out of his eyes, he found a very familiar silver-eyed girl lying on top of him.

Ruby blinked once and started screaming. Charlie started screaming. Ruby pushed off of him and ran away. "Ruby! Wait!"

He rolled to get up and saw something come out of the cellar. "Oh, what the hell." Was that Slender Man? Charlie shouldered his shotgun and fired, causing the nightmare fuel to stumble backwards and disappear into a wisp of shadowy smoke. He pumped a new shell into the chamber and advanced onto the door, narrowly stepping out of the way when a huge blade aimed for his legs snapped outwards. "Oh, what the hell!" Was that Pyramid Head? Was this some kind of Cellar of Fictional Horrors? He fired into the thing until his shotgun stopped going bang.

Pyramid Head slowly shuffled towards him, dragging his huge sword with murderous intent. "Oh, FUCK THAT!" Charlie dropped a slug shell directly into the chamber, took aim for the center of the pyramid and fired. The monster dropped like a sack of potatoes as one ounce of lead punched straight through the metal grating and presumably blew its brains apart. "Huh, I didn't expect that to work." He was under the impression Pyramid Head was supposed to be tougher than that. He had only seen the movie version for himself, having only heard more of its reputation through second-hand sources and wiki articles...

Just to be safe, Charlie loaded another shell and fired it into his back. There was no blood splatter, but he wasn't complaining. Now, where did Ruby run off to? He scanned his surroundings and noticed a trail of rose pedals leading back into the house. Ruby had probably holed up in there. If she had been down in a cellar with those things, he didn't blame her. Once again slinging his weapon, Charlie ran back into the house.

"Ruby?" he called. "Where are you?" He turned the corner into the living room and dropped to the floor when he saw a muzzle flash and heard a gunshot. "AH!" Charlie rolled over and saw a fist-sized hole knocked into the wall by where he had been standing. He also saw the very big muzzle of Ruby's scythe-gun aimed directly at his face.

"Whoa, take it easy! It's just me!" Charlie realized second after he said that that Ruby had never seen his face. She wouldn't recognize him. _"Oh shit."_

Ruby pressed Crescent Rose into his forehead, but hesitated to fire. The man, she didn't recognize his face but there was something familiar about his voice. In fact, if she imagined it with the sound of a voice synthesizer, it would sound just like...

"Charlie? Is that you?"

"Oh thank God!" he breathed in relief. "Yes, yes it is!" Ruby lowered her weapon and helped him to his feet. Charlie muttered a quick "Thanks" and brushed non-existent dust off of his clothes. "Did you have to shoot at me?" he glowered at her. Ruby looked down sheepishly and kicked the floor. "Sorry."

"Yeah, it's all good. I'm just glad you're here." He patted her on the shoulder.

Ruby nodded, still embarrassed but glad he understood. "I heard shooting outside, did those two things find you?"

"Slendy and Pyramid Head? Yeah, I took care of 'em."

"Oh, that's... good." She trailed off and visibly shuddered.

"You okay?"

The girl nodded her head stiffly. "Oh yeah, I'll be okay it's just... the skinny one would just stand there and... stare at me. And it would make me feel sick if I stared back. I guess I'm just... getting over it, is all."

"You sure you're gonna be okay?"

Ruby hugged her scythe, nuzzling it and smiling. "Now I'll be."

Charlie shook his head slowly, thinking her to be only a little weird. "Anyway! Let's get moving." He turned and marched out to the back of the house.

"Wait! Where're we going? And why are you suddenly human looking? And why did you have creepy monsters in your soul!?"

"In order: higher ground, beats me, and uh, fond memories?"

"You fondly remember a tall, faceless, teleporter!?"

"Hey! Slendy is an icon of our generation!"

"I wouldn't know that!"

"Remind me to tell you the story later." They stepped out of the back door and peeked around, watching out for anything that looked conspicously strange.

"He's gone," Charlie observed.

"Who's gone?"

"Pyramid Head, the body's gone."

Ruby made a silent "Oh" with her mouth. "We should get out of here."

"Yeah, don't have to tell me twice!" They ran around the house and onto the main street.

* * *

The song didn't stop. It repeated over and over and over and over and over... Yang had lost count how many times it had repeated. It wasn't a bad song the first few times, it was just really starting to get on her nerves. And no matter what they did, the radio would not turn off. Attempting to dial the volume down would only just make it louder.

In an act of desperation, Blake had stopped the truck on the side of the road, gotten out and shot it a few times. Yang even tried to smash it in, punching it till it was nothing but electronic scrap. It only seemed to make it louder.

"ARRRGH!" she yelled. Yang moved around to the driver's side of the truck and looked at Blake. "I'm driving! If I don't do something besides sit there I'm gonna go INSANE!"

"Fine." Blake moved to the passenger seat and very deliberately fastened her seat belt while looking at Yang.

"...Really?"

"I've seen you drive. I want to live."

"I'm glad you trust me, _partner_." After that heavy dose of sarcasm, Yang justified her partner's every reservation and floored it.

* * *

**Author's Note: Well, here we are again. I would have updated sooner but, uh... Steam Sales.**

**In case anyone was wondering, I picked "Shake It Off" randomly. I had the scene envisioned in my head but I needed a random song to use with it. I turned on a radio and it was literally the first thing to come on. After reading the lyrics, I got an idea for a one-off gag. It might appear in the next chapter or two.**

**Defining Weiss: A receptacle into which information is dumped and happens to look like a teenage girl. ****I dunno, Weiss just seems like the best character to throw info dumps on. I wonder which part of that explanation in her segment is going to come back and bite me in the ass...**

**In this chapter, I wanted Charlie to start showing a little more emotion. He's no longer trapped in a metal body so I wanted his dialogue to feel more impulsive and brash. We'll see more of this and reactions to his normal, human appearance soon.**

**As always, any and all feedback is welcome. Don't be afraid to make suggestions!**


	10. Chapter 10

Technically, Still Human CH. 10 (RWBY)

"See anything?"

"...Nope."

"Okay, moving." Charlie ran past Ruby up the street and into an alleyway. Crouching low by the corner, he looked up and down the boulevard for anything overtly suspicious. "Looks clear." The girl nodded and ran past him -much faster than he was able to- and took a position in an alleyway forward of his.

They had been leapfrogging like this for almost five minutes now. Creeping slowly up the street, both of them were on edge and expecting some shambling horror to appear out of the shadows at any moment. The building that Charlie was hoping to set up in was only a few hundred feet away now. Just a few more bounds would put them in front of it.

"Clear," Ruby said then suddenly held up her hand to stop him. "No no! I think I see something."

"What is it?"

"I'm not sure." She really wasn't. Further up and across the street she had seen this weird green thing in another alleyway.

"Describe it."

She waited a second for it to peek out of hiding and looked down the scope of Crescent Rose to get a magnified view. "Uh, it's sorta tall and squarish. Has four little legs and no arms."

"What?" It couldn't be what he thought it was, could it? But apparently things from his memories were being put on the field so it wouldn't really surprise him. "Does it look pixelated?"

"Yeah! Do you know what it is?"

"Yeah, shoot it now. We can't get too close to that thing."

Without another word, Ruby took aim and fired. The green, squarish, pixelated thing's head popped right off and it disappeared in a cloud of white smoke.

"Didja get it?"

"Yep, it's down. What was it?"

"I think it was from a game I played..." Were random fictional creatures just lurking around here, ready to pounce on them? If so, he hoped they didn't run into anything too overwhelming...

"A game?"

"Later, let's keep moving."

* * *

Weiss moved through the light and found herself in a dark and cavernous tunnel. It was cold there; fog had formed above the floor and was flowing around the bases of pillars running the length of the area. She treaded softly several dozen yards in almost perfect silence besides the muted clicks of her own heels on the hard, stone floor. The tunnel gently curved to the left into a long straightaway. On the other end was a large wooden door reinforced with iron bars bolted into it. She moved cautiously towards it but stopped when a figure stepped out of the shadows and into the middle of the path.

The figure's body was humanoid but completely and utterly black. Darker than a room with no lights; like a living shadow. There was an orange aura surrounding it and pulsing softly.

Before she could even react, the thing flew towards her. Weiss held up her arms and braced herself for an impact but the being simply passed through her, imparting no force. Lowering her guard slightly, Weiss turned around and saw the being change before her eyes. Its orange aura collapsed in on itself and formed a bright and tight fitting wrap over most of its body. Its shadowy head shifted and morphed, lightening to a leathery brown. At the same time its body moved like the surface of an ocean, staying the same shape but constantly shifting; gaining creases, folds and other details.

After what felt like an eternity of silence, it stopped and faced her. She wasn't sure what she was looking at. It was a humanoid... thing of brownish orange leather and burnished bronze. Weiss froze when she made eye contact. Its eyes were an intense, blazing orange and they were focused completely on her like how a predator might focus on its prey.

Weiss began slowly backpedaling away from the thing. The way it was looking at her was making her feel uncomfortable. After a few moments of moving backwards and keeping the strange thing in front of her, she felt her back press up against the door. She would have tried to open it, but a large padlock but an end to that thought. With nowhere to run behind her and a potential threat in front of her, Weiss readied herself to create a glyph. In a pinch, she could use them offensively but it was a strenuous thing for her to do.

The thing stopped an arm's length away from her. Its smile faded but the predatory gaze never left his eyes. For a moment, it just stood there and stared at her as if it were trying to bore a hole through her head with scrutiny alone. Weiss for her part didn't break eye contact and tried to stare him down in a show of defiance. Suddenly, the thing leaned in closer to her until their faces were only inches apart and... inhaled. Two vertical slits where a nose would have been on a person's face appeared

It straightened itself out and exhaled slowly, cocking its head to the side and staring at her with a renewed interest. "I... knew I recognized you," it spoke softly.

Weiss only narrowed her eyes in response.

"From the forest. You... are the white one. The rest of the trespassers must be from your group then." It stared at her with unblinking eyes. "He brought you in here, didn't he? To help take this soul from me? Of course, he wouldn't make it easy."

The leathery orange thing, who she was suspecting was the parasite she had been asked to stop, grasped the padlock on the door. Orange, aural tendrils formed around its hands and they shredded the padlock as if it were made of paper. "This soul and the little dream he has crafted; they're mine now." It backed a few feet away from her. "But I'll allow you and your friends to resist me. For now. Just know that this struggle will only wear you down and soon, you'll be mine too. All of you."

As suddenly as he had arrived, it left. it sank into the shadows on the floor, never breaking eye contact.

As soon as it disappeared, Weiss wasted no time in throwing the door open. On the other side she found herself in an open field underneath a twilight sky. On this side of the door, the structure she had come out of was only a small shack that sank into the ground as soon as she stepped away from it.

The girl surveyed her surroundings and saw a group of buildings on the horizon. It didn't look too far and the land was completely flat too, so even walking wouldn't take long and running would be amazingly fast. Just when her day started to look like it was taking a turn for the better, something just had to happen to her.

Weiss's jaw dropped in disbelief when the perfect, empty field was suddenly filled with buildings and streets rising out of the ground. There was no ceremony to their arrival. The ground didn't even shake, they just smoothly rose out of nothingness. As it was now, it appeared to Weiss that she was on a random street of some small town.

A flashing blue light caught her eye. She looked to it an saw the light coming an empty newsstand. There was a placard with the words "Take Me" written on it with an arrow pointing towards the counter. On the counter was a little earpiece with a microphone. With some trepidation, Weiss fit the device over her ear and pushed the button to activate it. "Hello?" she tried.

"There you are," the deep voice she had come to associate with the mysterious hood and robed figure came through the earpiece. "You are on an empty field now, correct?"

"Yes, but it just suddenly filled up with buildings!"

"...Oh my. It appears it is learning! But so am I! Just keep heading to that original set of buildings I am sure you saw. Ruby and Charlie are already there."

"Alright," Weiss accepted. "Wait, how are you doing this?"

"I told you I would provide support where I could. I am still able to manipulate the environment to a limited degree and sense the general layout of the area and when certain entities are moving."

"I see." She started walking down the road. It was going to be a much longer journey now with all the new obstacles in the way.

As she was walking, Weiss heard a faint thumping sound. They were like footsteps. Incredibly heavy footsteps that were slowly clunking closer to her. "Umm," she said into the earpiece. "Is there something moving towards me."

"Yes. You should get moving."

"Ri-" her voice cut out when the front of a building to her right exploded outward. Out of the dust and rubble strode forth a knight. A knight with impossibly thick silver armor; the pauldrons were impractically large. Its gleaming blue visor turned to face her as she took note of the glaive-like pole weapon it was holding. And then she noticed it raise its other arm at her and the two large gun barrels protruding out of its wrist.

Weiss ducked and rolled as a burst of automatic gunfire tore through the spot she was standing only a second before. She used a split second to look up and saw the knight marching toward her. As she was still unarmed, Weiss knew that trying to stand up to that thing would be tantamount to suicide. With no other options, she ran down the street and turned into the first alley she could find, bullets stitching her path every step of the way. At the end of the alley was a dumpster with a chain-link fence behind it. Sprinting towards it, she easily bounded over the dumpster and somersaulted over the fence, landing on the other side without missing a step. She heard the heavy steps of the knight behind her pick up, then a loud crashing sound as it presumably crashed through the fence. She didn't look back to check as she used her glyphs to platform out of the alley and onto a rooftop. Tracers etched out of the alley for a brief second then stopped. Weiss thought she was safe for the moment until she heard another crashing sound and felt the building under her shake. Bullets erupted out from under her not a second later, only her quick reflexes saved her from the brunt of it. A single projectile did manage to land a solid hit on her leg, exploding and knocking her off balance. Thankfully her aura protected her from any grievous injury, but whatever caliber that gun was spewing, it was big and it hurt.

Weiss managed to right herself and jump off the roof, forming glyphs to platform to the roofs on the other side. She knew she couldn't keep up this kind of semblance-assisted mobility forever; she just didn't have the endurance. But she was confident she could keep it up long enough to lose the knight pursuing her.

It was going to be a long and likely painful journey to find Ruby and Charlie.

* * *

Ruby walked up to the front of the building they had been working towards. Compressing her scythe down to its more manageable compact form, she pushed the front door open and peered inside. A long, L-shaped reception desk and a few pieces of lounge furniture scattered around the room reminded her of a hotel lobby.

She walked a few paces inside, hearing Charlie following her in but in a different direction. Behind the reception desk, Ruby spotted a panel with several switches. Assuming they were for the lights, she hopped over the desk and flipped them all on. A few lights bolted onto walls and a chandelier flickered on and gave the lobby life. Charlie glanced at her briefly, then pointed to the back of the room and briskly walked out of sight.

Looking after him, Ruby saw him go up a stairwell that had been hidden in the dark when they entered. She vaulted up and over the desk and follwed him up. After going up six floors worth of stairs, they pushed back out under the open sky on the roof.

Charlie walked over to the edge, leaning over the parapet and staring out into the distance. "Those buildings weren't there before." He pointed out to a city on the near horizon. "I appeared out there, and it was just an empty field then."

"Weird," Ruby hummed, shrugging and leaning on the stone guard rail.

Finally reaching the place he had wanted to go, they settled in to wait. Ruby didn't know exactly what they were waiting for but she hoped something would happen. The sooner this whole thing was taken care of, the better. She wondered how her teammates were doing.

The sound of metal sliding over metal shook her out of her thoughts. Charlie had pumped his weapon's chamber open and appeared to be inspecting the inside. It was no secret that Ruby held a fascination for weapons that bordered on an obsession. The girl slid over to his side to try and get a better look at it and try to start a conversation.

"Whatcha got there?"

"Hm?" Charlie perked up. "Oh, a shotgun."

"I know that!" she rolled her eyes. "I mean, what's its story?"

"Its story?"

"C'mon really? Every weapon has a story! Even a mass-produced one like that." It was obvious to her that it wasn't a custom piece; it didn't have the special character or flair of one.

"Well, its a twelve gauge. This particular one was intended for military and police use, so its tough. I had one just like this in my old life that used to belong to my dad..." He stopped and scratched his head. "I was surprised to find it here. Pleasantly, I might add."

Ruby nodded along in understanding. "Can I hold it?"

"Sure." Charlie handed his weapon over to her. Immediately upon grasping it, she could believe what she was told it was designed for. It looked light, but it had a surprising weight to it. And then there was the safety: a switch on the tang just forward of the grip. An ambidextrous safety. As a left-hander, she appreciated that little detail. She shouldered the weapon and looked down the sights, which was only a simple brass bead at the front end. Adequate, for the weapon's intended purpose.

Charlie watched Ruby handle the gun with mild interest. "I didn't realize you were left-handed," he said, noticing her brace the weapon on her left shoulder. He looked at her compacted scythe and noticed something he thought was contradictory. "Why does your scythe have a right-handed bolt handle though?"

"It's just the way I was taught," she explained. "My uncle's scythe was right-handed, so when I made Crescent Rose I was used to it, so I kept it."

He nodded. It seemed sensible enough. "Can I have it back now?"

"Yeah." She slipped it into his waiting arms. "I kinda like it. Sucks you can't cut anything with it though."

"I gotcha covered." Charlie reached around his waist and pulled out a knife and attached it to the magazine tube with an audible click. "Ta-da."

Ruby giggled. "Knife on a stick."

"Knife on a boomstick, you mean."

She snorted in amusement. "I guess. When we get out of this, I'll help you make something special."

"Thanks, I suppose." Charlie sat down against the parapet and stared up at the empty sky. Ruby did the same, but was instead looking at him from the corner of her eye. It really was strange, this was the same person she had tried to befriend over the last few days. He looked so different here. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't been really thinking of Charlie as a human. She made every effort to treat him like a person, sure, but seeing him like this made him seem more... alive. Maybe that wasn't the right word for it, but now he seemed to have a whole other element that she hadn't even realized she had been overlooking. Ruby wasn't sure what that element was, all she knew was that she could feel something different about him.

"Something wrong?" he asked her. Ruby had apparently turned her whole head to look at him without realizing it.

"Oh nothing, nothing. Just... thinking."

"Yeah, me too," he said. "The hood and robed thing brought you here, right?"

"Yep, said you could use some help."

"Where're the other three? More people would certainly help."

"They're around here somewhere I think. We kinda got separated..." Ruby went quiet for a moment. "You think they'll find us?"

"I dunno," he admitted. " But I'm sure we'll find them if they need us."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Listen," he raised a finger and pointed up. "It's dead quiet out there. If any of them run into trouble we should be able to hear it."

"Oh, good point."

They sat in the silence for quite awhile. Neither of them had a watch and their surroundings had no indication that time was passing at all. Ruby found out with some disappointment that her scroll was not on her person. She thought a little music and the fact that it had a clock would have helped right about then.

To pass the time, Ruby and Charlie inspected their respective weapons. Ruby ran Crescent Rose through its various modes, searching for any kind of imperfection or fault that, after looking for the umpteenth time, she knew she wouldn't find. Charlie did much of the same, clearing the chamber of the shotgun, catching the ejected shell and putting it back in over and over again. The repetitiveness of it all was almost mind numbing.

When something did finally happen, Ruby felt oddly relieved. The unmistakable staccato crackle of a rapid-fire weapon sounded off somewhere. Ruby and Charlie perked up, glancing at each other and sitting up to look over the parapet. It was silent once again for a few seconds before the gunfire resumed, tracers faintly visible in the distance. Ruby deployed her scythe to the fullest and looked down the scope to get a better view.

"See anything?"

"I'm looking, I'm looking..." She scanned the tops of buildings and the empty streets, looking for movement. Every few seconds, a burst of fire would arc upwards into the sky; erupting seemingly randomly out of alleyways and the buildings themselves. Ruby analyzed the rough path the fight appeared to be taking and took a guess where the next eruption would be. She was rewarded when she spotted a white blur narrowly dodge a barrage of projectiles. Motes of light appeared out of thin air, the white dot hopping off them to go over streets and buildings. Taking from what she had seen, Ruby guessed that was probably Weiss running from something. Whatever was chasing her must have been pretty tough or scary to send her partner running.

She watched Weiss jump over a wide avenue and settled her sights on the alley that whatever was chasing her was most likely to emerge. A hulking suit of silver armor tore out onto the street, stopping briefly to look up where Weiss had fled before resuming its chase. Ruby squeezed the trigger of Crescent Rose and sent a high-caliber round at the beast that only bounced off of its immense shoulder-plate. Its glowing blue visor flashed in her direction and strobed orange, turning away again to focus on Weiss. Ruby fired again, achieving the same effect as the last shot.

"What do you see?"

"I see silver armor. Big. Huge shoulder-plates."

"Ah, crap..." Charlie shook his head. Taking into account the rapid gunfire, he knew of one thing that fit that description. The sound of glass shattering caught his attention, and Charlie ran over to the other side of the roof to look over the edge. A group of dark figures, like three dimensional silhouettes, were in the street and slowly filtering into their building. One of them looked up with piercing, malevolent orange eyes.

"Ruby!"

Her scythe roared as if to respond. "What?"

"We got trouble moving in!" The girl tore her attention off of Weiss's aggressor and joined Charlie just in time to see the last of the dark figures move into their building. "Uh oh."

They were on a roof with only one way in and out. Unless jumping off the building and onto a another roof counted, they were effectively trapped. Ruby went to another edge of the roof and considered that option. The closest building was separated from their's by a gap maybe four yards wide and two stories lower. An easy jump for her but she wasn't sure about Charlie. "How do you feel about jumping?"

Charlie came to her side and looked at the gap. "We might not have a choice."

Ruby hummed. "We'll hold here for now. If we have to jump... I'll think of something." She could try ramming him across with the help of her speed and scythe. It will probably hurt, but it'll get the job done.

The door to the roof crashed open and a line of dark figures emerged. Their orange eyes burned as their limbs reshaped themselves into blades and heavy, blunt appendages. Charlie immediately began firing as they approached them, downing several as the remainder broke into a run and raised their weapons against them. Ruby flourished her scythe and cycled a new round into the chamber, pumping her legs to send her into a flying sprint. As the blade of Crescent Rose separated the nearest dark figure's head from its body, Ruby felt strangely at ease that she was fighting again instead of running away in fear.

* * *

Weiss crashed through a glass pane, feeling the shattered fragments safely glance off of her aura as she rolled. She was still lying on the floor as a fusillade of projectiles flew through the open window and tore up the wall in front of her.

"You are almost there," the voice in the headset whispered to her. "It is in the next structure over."

Weiss nodded to herself and found her way out of the building she had broken in to. The heavy footsteps of the knight outside reminded her to hurry as she ran across the street and pushed through the front door of an unassuming house.

Her running battle -if it could be called that- with the knight had taken a turn for the better when someone had started shooting at it. The voice of the hooded figure in the headset informed her that Ruby was on a rooftop and had spotted her, providing a welcome distraction. He had warned her that she wouldn't be able to help her for long though; Ruby was about to have problems of her own.

"WHERE'S MY SWORD!?" Weiss had yelled into the headset. "I NEED MY SWORD!" The voice of the hooded figure promised to relocate her weapon to a more convenient location and that in the meantime she needed to keep running. So she did.

After an eternity of a few minutes, the voice in the headset told her to keep her course and directed her to the position of her weapon. "It is laying against the wall next to the backdoor," he said as Weiss ran through the house. The backdoor was in an empty kitchen, and true to his word there it was. The point on the floor and the pommel resting against the wall, Myrtenaster, the name of her custom Multi-Action Dust Rapier, lie waiting for her.

Weiss took up her sword with little fanfare and made a quick check that it was in working order. The cylinder spun with no issue and each chamber appeared to be filled to the brim with Dust. She threw the backdoor open and ran out to a little yard before using her glyphs to platform onto the roof of the house she was just in.

Across the street, the silver knight shouldered through a narrow alley and looked up at her. For a split second, its blue visor flashed orange. Weiss pointed her rapier at the knight. Instead of raising its gun arm to fire at her, the knight grasped its glaive in both hands and cocked its head to the side, as if it were inviting her down. She narrowed her eyes, suspicious of its intentions, but leapt down from her perch to accept the challenge anyway.

As she walked onto the street, Weiss sized up her opponent. First and foremost, it was big. Perhaps twice as tall as she was and immensely wide across its shoulders thanks to the pauldrons. She couldn't spot any obvious weak points in its armor, much to her displeasure. That meant she would need to slowly whittle it down. Not an easy task.

The silver knight's glaive gained a blue haze of energy around its head before it took off in a surprisingly fast run straight at her. To prepare for what was coming, Weiss triggered her weapon to drip red Dust along its blade. A second later, the knight came within range and brought its glaive down in an overhead chop. The girl raised her rapier to block and when the blades made contact, the Dust on Myrtenaster ignited with explosive force to forcefully deflect the knight's blow. The knight quickly countered by throwing a punch with its gun arm.

Weiss deftly cartwheeled out of the way, conjuring a glyph to shift her direction and changing the selected Dust on her weapon mid-flight. The girl ducked under a horizontal slash and thrust at the knight's right leg, blue Dust bleeding off of her rapier and freezing the leg to the ground. She rolled to the side a heartbeat before the knight brought its glaive down to impale her and scrambled out of the way as it fired off a burst from its gun.

Positioned behind the knight, Weiss realized she had precious seconds to press her advantage before it broke free. Presumably, the armor on its back would be thinner than the front. Around the hip joints, she noticed that there was little armor but instead black, rubber seals. A good place to start as any. Focusing as much as she could on the tip of her blade, Weiss stabbed Myrtenaster through the joint. The knight didn't make so much as a whimper in pain as it forcefully twisted to break the ice's hold on its leg and back kicked Weiss right in the chest. The blow knocked the breath out of her lungs and sent the girl flying until she rolled to a stop a dozen yards away.

Weiss shakily rose to her feet and glyph-jumped to avoid a stab. While she was in the air, she cast a fireball at the knight's faceplate to buy some time.

_"Think Weiss, THINK!"_ she berated herself. _"Thick armor, surprisingly agile... what to do?"_ Penetrating it would be difficult, fire only stunned it. Ice seemed to work on its leg. _"Perhaps I'll try freezing the entire suit and work from there..."_

As she landed a few dozen yards away, a plan began to form in her head. Spinning the cylinder on Myrtenaster to the appropriate chamber, Weiss mustered as much Dust and daring as she could. She would need to stand still for a few seconds if this was going to work. The silver knight fired off a few shots but Weiss was able to spin out of the projectile's path. Seeing that at this range it would be ineffective, the silver knight took its glaive in a two-handed grip and charged. The knight thundered down the wide, empty street and Weiss couldn't help but smirk. A lane with no obstacles and only one opponent; this was her element, her specialty. Through much effort, the girl conjured nearly a dozen glyphs around the area. Most of them were behind her, a few were under her and in front of her and there was a solitary glyph in the middle of the street right in the knight's path. Maintaining this many constructs was pushing her limits; she could feel a very literal pressure on her mind. But if this went through perfectly, the fight would be over.

Time slowed to a crawl. Maybe it was an effect of her exertion or something to do with the environment she was in. Weiss didn't know but she took advantage of the fact to scan every last detail on her opponent. Every crevice, every strange inscription, every potential striking point. As the knight neared her central glyph, Weiss settled on the helmet, specifically one of the eye slots, as her striking point. With lightning fast reflexes, Weiss sent a globule of Ice Dust onto the central glyph that landed as soon as the knight was over it, turning it into a small, angrily vibrating iceberg.

She pointed her rapier to her back and at the eight glyphs arrayed there. She sent a globule of red Fire Dust and another blob of yellow Lightning Dust that evenly distributed themselves at her direction among the glyphs. Then she cast more yellow Dust at the glyphs below her, the constructs beginning to spin and crackle with energy. She could feel that energy already beginning to seep into her. It was uncomfortable, but the burst of speed it would help her perform would be able to propel her faster than Ruby at this short distance.

Finally, Weiss pointed Myrtenaster at the knight with an ominous finality. With single mental command, Weiss would be able to unleash a storm of Dust that would rival a natural disaster in power, if not in scale.

_"Fire."_

The glyphs to her rear began to spin. Four of them began to spew jets of high intensity flame, Almost instantly vaporizing the ice and keep the knight in position by force alone.

_"Lightning."_

The jets of flame ceased for the moment and were replaced by arcs of lightning, conducting through the water vapor, energizing the gas further and igniting the air itself. Weiss stopped the electrical bombardment for a second, commanding her rear glyphs to expend their Dust in bursts of fire and lightning akin to machine gun fire.

The steam and vapor in the air obscured most of the knight, but for a split second she could see a set of glowing, blue eyes. Weiss held her rapier high, using her free hand to strengthen her grip on the pommel. She waited a second, hoping to time her attack to land the instant the last of the Dust stopped flying.

She mentally calculated how much Dust the glyphs would have expended and nodded to herself. It was now or never. Weiss ran.

As her boots met the active glyphs on the ground, energy coursed around her aura and through her system, sending her down the street like a speeding bullet; her legs working unnaturally fast to perform the feat. In a fraction of a second, Weiss closed the distance between her and the knight. She pierced through the cloud of steam and saw her target. Its armor was burnt black and the fine edges on the plates were noticeably slagged, giving it a horrific, melted appearance. Luckily for her, the knight was staring right at Weiss as her weapon landed, perfectly inserting itself in right eye socket.

Weiss had thought that her rapier would pierce straight through the helmet, enabling her to seamlessly rip it out of her opponent's destroyed head. This did not happen. Instead, she met significant resistance, causing her to flip over the knight. The resistance keeping her sword in place suddenly disappeared with a sickening, metallic tearing sound.

The girl landed on her hands and knees, the tip of her sword embedding itself into the pavement. She looked up and was shocked to find that she had torn the helmet off of the knight completely. She stared at it for a long moment and watched it slowly fade away in a cloud of smoke. Weiss looked behind her and saw the rest of the knight was doing the same.

She got to her feet and shook her head, taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling. That was nasty piece of work. Casting all of those glyphs made her feel physically drained, but she shook off the creeping fatigue as much as she could.

That attack was brute force with almost no finesse besides the timing. Maybe it wasn't inefficient, but it was strenuous. Ruby would have probably loved it, though. It was flashy. If she told her partner about it, she would probably insist that she name it. Like, Dust Storm or something...

Weiss inspected her weapon for damages. Finding none, she began backtracking through the alleys. Time to find her partner...

* * *

**Author's Note: We're back and if this uploads in time, that'll make this the third update of June. That's an incredible pace for me...**

**The thing that was chasing Weiss was supposed to be a Grey Knight of Warhammer 40K. Maybe got carried away or didn't use enough details but, yeah. Big scary thing in armor with huge weapons. And Pauldrons. If you are a reader that is not familiar with 40K, please google "The Lord Inquisitor Grey Knights Teaser." You'll get a pretty badass video that will give you a mental picture of what was being fought here. On another note, I was gonna somehow reference Commander Boreale, but I wanted to keep the chapter serious.**

**I know that some of you might be wondering what a "tang safety" is. Just google it. They're nice.**

**The parasite that Weiss finally encountered was originally a creepy dude in an orange business suit. Changed it to something more... unnatural.**

**And now onto something more sobering. To those readers that are still with me, I must say that I'm honestly losing interest in writing this story. My original intention for writing this was as a place I could experiment with characters and concepts. I actually dug through my old files and found the first draft of this story. It was originally about an android that was built to compete with the contract that Penny would eventually take. Only, instead of creating a new being, the makers took a soul that had already passed away. From Earth. Charlie. My, have I strayed far from that.**

**Yeah... the idea is free. I'd actually like to see what someone could do with that.**

**Anyway, my point is that this story might go on hiatus or I might abandon it entirely. I got so carried away with thinking of ideas. Some of them could be stories by themselves! But if I choose to continue this, I'll be able to use every single one of them in one story. And that thought makes me warm and fuzzy inside. ****I'll try to finish this story arc so I don't leave anyone hanging. No promises after that though...**

**Yang and Blake will return next chapter. Until then, comments and criticism are welcome. As always. **


	11. Chapter 11

Technically, Still Human Ch. 11 (RWBY)

* * *

"Arrrgh!" Charlie brought his weapon over his head to intercept a blow. His arms wavered under the blunt force, but he was able to muster the strength to push his enemy away. Charlie swiftly shouldered his shotgun and fired, disintegrating the living shadow from the neck up. Without stopping he worked the slide of the gun, sighted another target and pulled the trigger, only to be answered with the click of an empty weapon.

He hissed in annoyance and started pulling shells off of the receiver-mounted saddle and shoving them into the loading port. Another shadow peeled off of the main group and ran at him. Charlie chambered a shell and fired, its momentum carrying it onto his bayonet. He shoved it aside where it disintegrated like the other, and took stock of the situation.

They were being slowly pushed towards the edge. A seemingly endless stream of the things were pouring out of the stairwell. Luckily for him, most of them were focused on Ruby. And they weren't doing well in that regard, either. The girl was maelstrom of red death; slashing, spinning, and firing in a seamless dance. While they may not have any raw battle prowess, to the shadow creature's credit they kept coming without a care in the world for their own safety. Perhaps they were simply trying to overwhelm them in sheer weight of numbers. If that was their plan, it seemed to be working.

Charlie ran over to the edge of the roof and checked the gap again. If this place really was supposed to conform to what he expected, then he wouldn't be able make it. But as the seconds ticked by, jumping it was looking more and more like his only option. Ruby would be able to make it, of that he had no doubt. He had witnessed her do some insane things in the real world so this shouldn't be a problem. He needed to talk to her about this, but she was otherwise occupied at the moment. He could do something about that.

Topping off his magazine tube, Charlie fired into the mob. Nine rounds of buckshot, nine shadows destroyed. "Ruby!" he shouted and reloaded at the same time. "We gotta jump!"

Ruby glanced at him quickly before cutting a running shadow in half from the shoulder to the hip. "I'll be there!"

Charlie turned back to face the gap. "Okay, I can do this," he tried to reassure himself. "Yeah, no problem. Just the longest jump I've ever- AHAHHHHHHH!" An overwhelming force hit him on the back and sent him flying across the gap and onto the roof of the next building. He bounced and rolled to a stop, groaning from the pain. This building had a gravel roof. It didn't exactly feel pleasant when his face skidded across it.

He was going to lie there and wallow in the feeling when something started squirming under his back. Charlie rolled to the side and found Ruby lying there with a tired grin. "It actually worked..."

"The hell? What'd you do?"

"Semblance. Ran into you," she said and rose to her feet and held out her arm to help Charlie to his.

"Thanks." Charlie looked up at the roof they had departed and saw a whole crowd of the shadows standing at the edge and staring at them. He was worried that they were going to jump across and was slightly relieved when, one by one, they started to break off and walk out of sight; presumably back to the stairwell. "We gotta go."

Ruby mutely nodded and headed over to the door leading to this building's stairwell. Charlie followed her down.

It was dark in the shaft, their footsteps echoed loudly across the walls. Two floors down however, there was a light. A bluish white light, shining steadily at the end of a hall. It wasn't a warm thing, but it was inviting. It was like it was beckoning them to come over to it. Charlie took a step towards it, but Ruby grabbed his arm to stop him. "Kinda suspicious, don't you think?"

"Yeah, maybe, maybe." Charlie did agree with her but he felt like he had to see what it was. "Could be important or useful. We did find our weapons lying around in random places, after all."

"Okay, fine," she relented. "I'll just be over here. Where it's safe. In case it explodes. Or something."

Charlie slowly approached the light. He was wary for danger and at the same time realized he was on a timer. Those things were working their way down the other building and would most likely come here next. He picked up his pace.

The light was emanating from the top of a table and as he got closer, the image slowly resolved itself into that of a rectangular box. When he got within arm's length of the object, the light faded slightly as to not be blinding and revealed more details. It was a simple wooden box with a gold latch keeping it closed. Charlie thumbed the latch and the lid flew open with a loud thud as it struck the wall behind it. It made him jump and reflexively cover his face.

There wasn't any searing pain, loud explosion, or any other worst case scenario involving a booby-trapped box. Slowly, he opened his eyes and peered inside.

The box was lined with red velvet on the inside. And lying in the middle of the box was a sword.

It was still in its scabbard, but from what he could tell from the way it curved slightly it was a sabre. The scabbard and guard were silver, and the grip itself was black. Gently, Charlie picked the weapon up and pulled it out of its scabbard.

The blade was an obsidian black. As he held it, geometric runes began lighting up along its length. First they were blue, then they shifted to green, until they finally settled on a mixture between. The blade hummed with an assuring power.

Ruby had walked over to him at some point and looked upon the weapon with equal measures of awe and curiosity. "What is it?"

"I... don't know." He had never seen this thing before in his life and he was sure he would remember something like this.

Their time to ponder the mysterious weapon was cut short however when the sound of shattered glass pierced their ears. The sound originated from an open window to their left further down the hall. The two of them peeked outside and saw that the crowd of shadows had grown. New additions were streaming in from everywhere, busting windows as they emerged from the insides of buildings. The horde of shadows formed a semi-circle about nine yards in radius around the front of their building. And they were all staring right at them.

Charlie expected some kind of attack at any second, but the shadows didn't converge, disperse or otherwise move. They simply stood there, staring at them. Surrounding them. It was almost like they were waiting. Waiting for something or waiting them out? If it was the latter, Ruby and he certainly couldn't go anywhere with all of them out there like that. Once again, they had nowhere to run. But if they were waiting for something... he definitely didn't want to stick around and find out what it was.

"Any ideas, Ruby?"

"We could try going out the back," she responded quickly. "Though, I doubt that way would be any better than the front. We could also wait for Weiss to show up. If she didn't run into any more problems, she'll probably be here soon."

"I don't think time is on our side," Charlie said. "But unless we want to fight... all of those. We're out of options."

Ruby nodded. That was her assessment as well. Alone, she wouldn't have enough ammunition to effectively engage the whole mob. There had to be hundreds, maybe thousands of the things out there. She hated waiting around as much as the next person, but it looked like this time she'd have to deal with it.

Suddenly, every glowing orange eye in the sea of shadows turned to the left; their right. Ruby was confused for a second before a sound reached her. It was faint, but quickly intensifying as it got closer. It was the sound of... pop music.

Ruby and Charlie leaned out of the window to get a better view of what was approaching. In the distance, Ruby could make out a white pickup truck moving at breakneck speeds down the road. She used her weapon's scope to get a closer look, smiling and laughing when she saw a familiar face topped with a mop of long, blonde hair behind the steering wheel.

"Who is it?"

"It's Yang!" Ruby laughed. "And Blake, too!" Her sister's partner was leaning out of the vehicle's window, apparently to get a better view of what was further down the road.

Charlie nodded. It looked like help would arrive sooner than they expected. As the vehicle drew closer, he listened to the song that was blasting out of it and swore when he recognized it. Unbelievable. But it was a sound from home and that made him smile.

Ruby waved her arm wildly to get Blake's attention. Through her scope, they made eye contact briefly before Blake slipped back into the cabin and said something inaudible to Yang. The pickup truck suddenly picked up its speed, faster than Ruby thought possible and made no signs that it was going to turn anytime soon.

"Holy shit!" Charlie exclaimed. "She's gonna ram through them!"

From Ruby's point of view, that's what it definitely looked like. Amusingly, Blake jumped out of the vehicle and rolled to safety.

The shadows tried to clear the road, but they had reacted far too late. The pickup truck was moving at well over a hundred miles an hour at this point. The vehicle plowed through the mob like a train plowing through snow and crashed through the front of a building before finally stopping.

"Yang!" Ruby leapt out of the window and landed safely on the street below. Charlie would have followed her but once again, expectations didn't foresee him walking away from that unharmed. He'd have to take the long way down.

Those shadows that the truck had rammed head-on had simply disintegrated. Other, arguably more fortunate individuals, had been sent flying and many of them vanished upon landing. But many hadn't perished from the fall, and many more hadn't been struck all together. Those entities directly in Ruby's path to her sister were scythed down without remorse and those that weren't were ignored. For now.

A small crowd of the things had gathered around Yang's crash site. Ruby prepared to throw herself into the fray when the driver's side door of the truck blew off of its hinges (taking a shadow with it), and out strode Yang, apparently no worse for wear. Her sister took one good look around at her situation, cracked a smile and raised her fists; Ember Celica expanding around her wrists.

"I'M, LIGHTNING ON MY FEET!" she yelled and threw herself at the nearest throng of enemies with a flying punch. The limbs of the shadow people morphed into various weapons and raised them to meet the threat. They weren't even close to a match. With a flare from her weapon and the aid of her Semblance, on impact the air around Yang exploded outward, sending whatever wasn't already in the ground flying. "AND THAT'S WHAT THEY DON'T SEE-EE!"

Ruby didn't know what had gotten into her sister, but she knew that Yang would appreciate it if she kept her flanks clear. The girl chambered a round and went to work.

Charlie scrambled down the stairs and into the lobby of the building and found just under a dozen of the shadows standing around waiting for him. As one, eleven sets of orange eyes turned to face him and charged. He backpedaled up the stairs, unslinging his shotgun and firing while he did so. On the way down there, he had taken a moment to attach the scabbard of the sword he had found to his belt so he wouldn't have to carry it in his off hand. It was quite convenient that the scabbard already had a measure a cable wrapped around its base to fashion the knot.

Elsewhere, Weiss was running through winding streets and alleys; dutifully listening to instructions given over her earpiece. She still had some distance to go, she was told, but she was getting close. Judging by the sounds of battle echoing off the walls, she needed to be there as soon as possible.

Back on the main street, Blake was running down the road to assist Yang and Ruby. The mob of shadows was beginning to converge on the sisters, but from what she could see that wouldn't be a problem for them. A few of the things peeled off the larger groups and made a run for her. Readying her weapons, Blake did not divert her course.

The first shadow to meet her raised a spiked, club-like arm and brought it down in a powerful smash. At first, the strike appeared to have met its mark. But then the girl faded into a shadow and disappeared, only for the shadow to be bisected at the waist by the real Blake who had appeared a yard away. To the casual observer, this would have appeared to be a teleport or an impossibly fast side-step. The reality was closer to the latter.

Blake's Semblance was the ability to create "shadow-clones". In high-intensity combat, she ruthlessly exploited this ability to distract enemies, shield herself from blows, and occasionally use them as a sort of stepping stone. As demonstrated, she could create these short-lived copies of herself to take her place and occupy the attention of something long enough for her to put herself in an advantageous position.

The irony that she had used a shadow to defeat a shadow was not lost on her.

Seconds after destroying the shadow, more came to attack her. She raised her primary blade, the weapon folding and exposing its gun barrel, and shot a pair of runners down. A third one came from her left, but she snapped up her sharpened sheath and lopped off its head. Blake folded her sword back out and focused on the edges of her weapons. With four swings, she projected her Aura into four, fast moving, purple-white shock waves that cut through the air and impacted four different targets.

A sudden surge of shadows beset her from all sides. Once again, she folded her sword into its pistol form and let it hang from the black ribbon attached to it. She threw it up and over her head, swung and spun it around her like a propeller. The exposed bit of blade on the end cut and slashed and effectively kept most of the group back. Picking a random target, she caused the blade to sink into it and, with a stout tug, discharged the firearm. It ripped out of its anchor and sunk into a new victim, repeating the process again.

Seeing she had slowed down, the shadows tried to close in on her but Blake simply reverted to twirling her weapon around like a spinning razor wind, whittling down the number of opponents enough for her to go back on the offensive.

One came at her from the front. A swift pair of slashes put an end to it. Another on her left. She brought her sheath up between its legs and cut a leg off at the joint. Nimbly spinning away from the tumbling shadow, she wheeled around and stabbed at one that had approached from behind. On her new left came her last aggressor. As it came in for a thrust, she quickly shadow-cloned away and put three bullets in the side of its head, ending the skirmish.

Blake whipped her head around, searching for immediate threats and found none. It seemed most of the shadows were focusing on Yang and Ruby, with a few filing into the building she had seen Ruby waving in. A huge chunk of ice suddenly burst out of an alleyway next to that building, disintegrating or knocking shadows out of the way. In its wake, Weiss strode out triumphantly. A moment's pause, she picked the closest target and sprang into motion, skewering her helpless victim.

Blake was about to join her when her ears, their sensitivity faithfully reproduced, picked something up over the din of the battle. In the building Ruby had been in, a muffled but distinctive gunshot sounded off, followed by a strained shout. A quick head count assured Blake that all of Team RWBY was on the street. If they were all out here, then a fifth person could only be...

Blake leapt through a broken window and into the building's lobby. An upward slash cleared the room of its only occupant. She listened for the sounds of a struggle and all but sprinted up the stairs when she heard it. A scene she was no stranger to greeted her: a man she didn't recognize was keeping the transmuted arms of a shadow at bay with a bladed long gun. His legs were beginning to buckle under him and his arms wavered as they kept the shadow away. She folded up her VBCS and anchored it into the back of the thing and watched as it instantly collapsed.

That would have been the end of it, had Blake not been suddenly blindsided. Something dark and surprisingly nimble clotheslined her, causing her to drop her main weapon and sending her tumbling down the stairs. Before she could recover, the shadow she had somehow missed was upon her. She hacked at it with the sharpened sheath of her weapon to keep it at arms length, tugging on the ribbon that kept Gambol Shroud attached to her and scooting away as fast as she could.

A glint of steel suddenly shoved its way through the shadow's midsection. It visibly recoiled from the stab but simply turned around and sent a blunt, weighted arm between the man from earlier's legs. He bit down on an agonized scream and writhed on the floor. The orange eyes of the shadow flared brightly as it raised its arm up high to finish its work.

After much pulling, the grip of Gambol Shroud found itself in Blake's hand. The girl set the weapon to gun mode, raised it and fired until the shadow went down and disintegrated into thousands of pieces.

She rose to her feet and changed magazines, pulling a spare off her back. She didn't think it was a coincidence at all that she had found extra ammunition for both Yang and her in the truck's glove compartment.

The stranger stood up with her, leaning heavily on his gun for support. Blake had a good idea of who this person was, but she waited for him to speak first to confirm it.

"God, they're getting tougher," he muttered to himself before looking at her. "Glad to see you made it, Blake."

"Charlie." There was no doubt in her mind about it. His voice lacked its usual synthetic harshness, but it still easy for her to tell that this was the same person she had become acquainted with a few days ago.

"In the flesh," he gave a pained laugh. "So to speak."

She ignored his dull attempt at humor and went to a front window to check the situation outside. The street was clearing, so it seemed to be going well enough. And that music had finally, finally stopped. The few shadows that remained however, seemed to be far more formidable than the ones before. Blake watched as a pair of them managed to send Weiss into a retreat, only for them to be cut down with a giant, flash-formed sword of ice a few seconds later. Ruby was locked up with another shadow, the entity having grabbed a hold of her scythe on the haft. A simple squeeze of the trigger freed her from its grasp and freed its torso from the rest of its body. Yang was engaged in a duel of sorts, Blake just managing to glimpse a solid hit strike her across the head. Her partner stumbled, dazed and confused for a brief second before retaliating and causing the offender to all but explode in a single hit.

"I don't know if I've said it yet, but you girls really are incredible," Charlie said, leaning against the edge of a nearby window sill. "Should probably get back out there. Help them finish this."

Blake only nodded in response, re-gripping her weapons and vaulting through the window.

With Blake rejoining the fight, Team RWBY was whole once again and cleared the street in just a few minutes more, aided in a pinch by a steady beat of shotgun blasts directed at targets of opportunity. The last shadow falling to Yang with a swift punch to its head. The dust settled and the world turned back over to silence as the remaining fighters took advantage of the moment to catch a breather.

As soon as the last shadow died, Weiss slumped against a tree on the median. Ever since that huge knight had shown up she hadn't stopped running or fighting; she was exhausted. She struggled to keep her eyes open even as they darted around to survey the once pristine avenue, now pockmarked with craters, scorch marks, and littered with spent casings. Yang sat down at the edge of one such crater, leaned back and took a deep breath. "Well, that was something."

Ruby planted her scythe nearby and leaned against it. "Looks like its over." She perked up when she heard the sound of glass crunching behind her. Blake was standing on the sidewalk, scanning the area for signs of trouble and Charlie made his way out of the building and approached her.

"Clear?"

"Clear."

He shook his head glumly. "Hopefully they don't come back too soon... I got hit pretty good."

"What? Where?"

He grimaced and gestured between his legs.

"In the leg? That can't be too ba- ooooohhhhhh..." Ruby winced.

"Yeah..." he sighed. "Blake got it though, so there's that."

Ruby didn't know what to say, but before she could come up with something she felt a hand on her shoulder and found her sister had stepped up beside her. Yang was eyeing up Charlie.

"Is that..?"

"Yep."

"Are you..?"

"Yes, Yang."

"Wow, you are not what I thought you'd look like."

"What were you expecting?"

The blonde girl shrugged. "I don't know." She brought her hand up to her chin and adopted a thinker's pose. "You're shorter here."

"Or, the robot body is tall."

"Mm, yeah."

"Anyway," Ruby butted in, pulling away from her sister. "We should start planning our next move."

"I hear ya," Charlie said. "Any ideas?"

"Well," she started. "We could always stay put, but we'll run out of ammo if we go through another wave like that. I'm down to my last mag. What about you Yang?"

"I got a belt to split between my babies."

"Charlie?"

"Three full tubes worth. Part of a fourth."

"Blake!" Ruby called out. "Ammo?"

"One spare!"

"Weiss! Dust?"

"One third left!" she responded without turning to look at them.

"Yeah," Ruby continued. "We'll be down to melee only in no time at all."

"I've no problem with that," Yang said.

"None of us can take hits like you do though," her sister pointed out. "So we should try moving out and searching for supplies, but there's no guarantee we'll find any out there..."

"Quite a conundrum," Charlie commented. "Though these buildings have been pretty darn helpful so far. I mean I found my gun, your scythe, and this sword on just this street alone. Who knows what we'll find if we look?"

"I guess we'll have to try," Ruby sighed. "C'mon, let's not waste anymore time." She started walking away but stopped when she noticed Weiss staggering over. "Huh? What's wrong?"

When she got to the group, Weiss stared at Charlie for a second longer than what was polite and took an earpiece off of her head. She held it out in her palm and hit a button. "It's on speaker."

"Thank you," a familiar deep voice said from the device. "Gather round, it would be better if you all heard this." Yang waved Blake over while everyone else leaned in closer to listen.

"You have done well repelling the parasite's first attack," the voice said. "But take heed that this was only the first of potentially hundreds of such attacks."

"Hundreds?" Ruby said in a small voice.

"Unfortunately yes. However, that is a worst case scenario. I can estimate but offer no accurate measure of how many times it can muster the strength to create a wave of offensive constructs."

"Offensive constructs?"

"What those shadow people are. They will likely get more sophisticated as time goes by."

"Why the sudden change from fictional creatures to faceless shadows?" Charlie wondered.

"Creating something out of a memory takes far less energy than creating something new. As it grew more used to this environment, it appears to have lost the need to rely upon those memory-based constructs. These shadows will instead be tailored to the situation and take the form of whatever its psyche dictates."

"So what should we do?"

"You need to kill it before this escalates any further."

"If I knew where it was, it'd be dead already," Yang boasted.

"Of that, I can be of assistance. From what I can sense, the parasite seems to have created a lair of sorts relatively close by. I will place signs to direct you to it."

"Great!" Ruby cheered. "Let's get moving! You wouldn't happen to know where we could find more ammo, would you?"

There was a pause. "...Check the back of the vehicle Yang and Blake rode in on."

Ruby zoomed over to the truck and found a half-open crate on the cargo bed. Inside were green, metal boxes. Opening one, she found a handful of loaded magazines for Crescent Rose. Another had vials of several varieties of Dust. Another had magazines for Blake. Yet another had shotshell-belts for Yang and loose shotshells for Charlie. "How did you do that!?" she hollered back at the earpiece.

"I still have some control over this world," the voice replied even though Ruby wasn't close enough to hear. "Enough to assist you in this endeavor."

"Once we find this place and kill this thing, it'll be over right?" Weiss asked.

"Yes."

She breathed a sigh of relief then looked at the remaining three. "We have an objective and a location about to be provided. Let's finish this and get out of here!"

"Hell yeah!" Charlie racked his shotgun. "But one question... walk or drive?"

"Drive, obviously. Why?"

"Because, DIBS ON DRIVING!" He took off in a sprint towards the truck.

"Heh, I got the key," Yang smirked. She felt around her belt pouch and found nothing. "Crap! I left it in the ignition!" she ran after Charlie.

"It's not a race!" Weiss called after them. "Arrgh! Idiots..."

Blake touched her shoulder. "Lighten up," she said with a small smile and jogged after her partner.

Weiss only sighed and put the earpiece back on. "I think I'm the only sane one left."

"I was perusing through Charles's memories earlier and I recall a quote that might pertain to you," the voice in the earpiece said.

"Really? What was it?"

"It was: 'Only the insane have strength enough to survive. Only the survivors determine what is sane.'"

"That... is not helpful."

"Maybe. But I have taken a liking to it."

Weiss shook her head slowly and walked off to join her friends.

* * *

**Author's Note: Short chapter, long update time. *sigh* Well, I actually started writing it on the 8th and finished yesterday so it was only a week for me. Ended the chapter there because I didn't want to delay the update any longer and I thought it was a good place to end. ****Writing fight scenes is fun but tiring. Of course, this IS a RWBY fic so fight scenes are a given...**

**I've been thinking about the future of this story and whether I want to continue it or not, and I've come up with a few options that I would like the input of the readers on:**

**Option 1: Continue writing this story with no changes.**

**Option 2: Re-write the entire story from the beginning. Shorter beginning chapters and a more interesting set-up. When I first started writing this, I had no idea how long it would be or what it was really about. There was no real direction. Re-writing would make for a less murky plot and better character development.**

**Option 3: Discontinue story and work on something else, be it an original work, another RWBY fic, a RWBY crossover story, or something derived from a different source altogether.**

**For a RWBY crossover story, I have a few ideas floating around. For example, Half-Life would be easy to justify a crossover because it already deals with the concept of the multiverse. And I haven't seen a RWBY/Mass Effect first contact fic yet. And there's always that idea for an EVE Online crossover. Oh, I also have a RWBY/Minecraft crossover that I stopped working on a few months ago. The first chapter was like, 80% done but I re-read it and it needs a re-write.  
**

**Option 4: Quit writing.**

**Either way it goes, expect another long update time. Thanks for reading.**


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